Turtle Lovers
by immortalsoul273
Summary: The turtles meet four unique girls who have secrets that they themselves don't even know about, so they have to experience these crazy adventures with the boys in order to discover these secrets that have been hidden from them and along the way, love had blossomed. LeoxOC - RaphxOC - DonniexOC - MikeyxOC. 2003 version.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, I want to say that I've never watched TMNT before, but I like the 2012 version and so I watched the 2003 version as well, and I'm also going to write a fanfic on the 2012 version, but when I'm done with this fanfic; so here are my OCs.**

**Winter**

Appearance: Waist length light brown hair and grey eyes

Age: 14

Clothes: White crop tank top with black sequined vest, black leather shorts and white gladiator sandals, brown leather, peacock feather hippie headband, black snake ear wrap and black thin glasses.

Her winter clothes is a white t-shirt with a black leather jacket, dark blue mens jeans and grey snow boots.

Her summer clothes is a floor length teal skirt with a yellow tank top, a straw hat and yellow flip flops.

Bio: Winter had lived in New York for her whole life, April babysat her all the time and they have a sister-like relationship and visit each other regularly. She is very smart since her parents work as scientists, so they're out of state most of the time for conventions, but she can be very playful when she wants to be. She's also a kick boxer, so she can be aggressive when her friends are being hurt and very blunt, but is still considerate of others feelings.

**Seraphina/Sara**

Appearance: Shoulder length dark brown hair and hazel eyes

Age: 14

Clothes: Grey, baggy tank top with a skull with a Indian chiefs hat, camouflage pants with straps, short black lace combat boots, black and grey striped beanie hat, wrist watch on right, skull sweatband on left.

Her ballet dress is knee length pink with thin straps, her hair in a high messy bun with a black headband with a small silver butterfly on the right and white panty hose and ballet flats.

Her winter clothes is a green sweater with a brown wool poncho, light blue skinny jeans and light brown snow boots.

Her summer clothes is a short black skirt with blue and pink flowers, light blue tank top and blue flip flops.

Bio: Sara used to live in Minnesota when she was little, but her parents divorced when she was 10 and her mom and her moved to live in New York. Her mother is a renowned ballet dancer, so she's always out of state for most of the year, but always makes sure to send money for Sara to pay for things. Sara has four older brothers, so she can be rough around the edges, but is still kind to others. Her mother also taught her ballet, so she has a girly side, but doesn't let it others know she has one. April also babysat Sara most of the time and she met Winter through April and they've become good friends, Winter even trained Sara to kick box.

**Phoebe**

Appearance: Waist length blonde hair with purple, pink, green and blue highlights and blue eyes

Age: 14

Clothes: Black and white zig zag bubble bottom shirt, pink shorts, black short high heel boots with three straps on the sides, two colorful weaved bracelets on each wrist and multiple ear piercings from the top of the ear all the way down to the lobe on her left ear.

Her winter clothes is a white turtleneck sweater, pink trench coat, black skinny jeans and black snow boots.

Her summer clothes is a short light pink skirt, a dark pink short sleeves blouse and black flats.

Bio: Phoebe's parents moved to New York when she was 5 from California, she is very playful, but she's sometimes shy, but she's not afraid to speak her mind. Though she looks like she goofs off, she's actually very smart and despite her thin frame, she's very strong as well. Viola saved Phoebe from the Purple Dragons and they've became close friends. Phoebe is a regular at April's antique shop since she loves antiques, so she became her friend and she got to meet Winter and Sara and became their friend as well.

**Viola**

Appearance: Black shag haircut with bangs covering the right eye and amber eyes

Age: 14

Clothes: Black one shoulder mid drift shirt with a winged vampire skull on red roses, black shorts with chains on the back pockets and silver studs on the front pockets, knee high black combat boots with five buckles and a side zipper, black leather bracelet with a pentagram on right, charm bracelet on left with four different colored charms, green, blue, red and yellow, and black ribbon and white lace choker.

Her winter clothes is a black turtleneck sweater, black sweat pants and black snow boots.

Her summer clothes is a knee length black dress with see through short sleeves and black flats.

Bio: Viola's grandmother, Varuna, was leader of the first kunoichi clan in Japan and the position of leader has been passed down to the first born female in the family. Viola's parents used to lived in Florida, but they died when she and her younger twin sister, Vanessa, were babies and they were taken in by their aunt, who is the current leader of the clan. Her aunt couldn't conceive a child, so Viola was trained so that she can take position of leader for when her aunt passes. But when Viola turned 14, she moved back to America so she could live a normal life and her aunt respected her wishes and helped pay for living expenses. Viola is also very calm, collected, most compassionate and most mature of the group, she also doesn't let her anger out, even when she's in battle.

**Sorry, I would have added more to my OCs bios, but they're a secret that will be revealed in the story.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

The turtles were lounging around April's apartment since Splinter wanted some quiet so he could meditate and the turtles were making too much noise and they all got in a brawl with each other. Though April loved the turtles, they could be a bit of a handful when she's alone with them. There was a knock at the door and everyone looked towards it.

"Did you guys order food again?" April questioned, the turtles shook their heads and April walked towards the door, "Then who could it be? Guys, you better-"

April barely finished when she turned around, they were already gone, she should know better than to ask them to hide when they know they have too. April opened the door and a girl with long light brown hair hugged her the second the door opened.

"April!" the girl said and pulled out the hug.

"Winter, you're back!" April said happily and they hugged each other again.

"I never thought I'd miss the stench of New York" Winter joked as she pulled out the hug.

The turtles stayed hidden, but they took a look to see who the person was, she looked to be around their age and was wearing some unusual clothing and accessories. Donnie couldn't help but stare at her with wonder; he didn't know why, but he thought the girl was real pretty.

"So how was the convention with your parents?" April asked as she closed the door.

"It was great, but I was starting to miss you, so I asked if I could come back early"

"I missed you too; so what happened?"

"Nothing much, just hearing some speeches and seeing some inventions, it was cool; hey, can I use the bathroom?"

"Yeah, you know where it is"

Winter soon left for the bathroom and when April turned back around, she was a little startled when she saw that the turtles were in the living room again.

"So April, who was that?" Mikey asked.

"She's a friend of mine, I used to baby sit her when she was little since her parents are usually out of town for science conventions, she and I are like sisters"

"Hey April!" Winter called out as she came back in and the turtles were gone by that time, "How about I stay the night and we can catch up?"

"Uh, yeah sure, that sounds nice, but shouldn't you need a change of clothes?" April suggested, she didn't want Winter to see the turtles and she needed her out long enough so the turtles could go back home.

"Sure, we can go to our old hang outs tomorrow, have some fun like the old days" Winter said and soon left.

"Guys" April called out and turned to see the boys there, "Do you think you can follow Winter, make sure that she gets to her house and back safely, what with all the Purple Dragons around"

"Sure April, no problem" Donnie said.

The guys soon began to follow Winter from the roof tops so they could stay out of sight.

"I saw what happened back there" Raph said to Donnie.

"What?" Donnie asked, not taking his eyes off of Winter as she came out of her house with a bag.

"You totally have a thing for her!" Mikey teased.

"I do not!" Donnie denied.

"We saw the way you stared at her Donnie, there's no way to deny it" Leo said.

Donnie ignored them and they continued to follow Winter, she stopped by a bakery on the way. But things were starting to get troubling when the turtles noticed that some Purple Dragons were following her. Winter glanced behind her, then she started to run and so did the Dragons and the turtles were right above them. When Winter turned down an alley, it was a dead end.

"Just give us what you got little girl!" a Purple Dragon called out, a pipe dangling on his shoulder.

"Why don't I give you a kick to you scrunched up face!" Winter shouted.

The Purple Dragons began to close in on Winter, but she then grabbed a nearby trashcan and threw it at two of the Purple Dragons, then she charged at them and threw a kick, knocking another Dragon down.

"Whoa, she's good" Raph commented, and that was rare.

While she continued to fight the Purple Dragons, one of the Dragons that were knocked down by the trashcan got up and started to come at Winter from behind. Donnie acted first and jumped down and knocked that Dragon down. His brothers soon jumped in as well and attacked the other Purple Dragons, Winter couldn't see _what_ they are since it was dark, but she stayed out of it.

The turtles soon finished off the Dragons and the others who were still standing ran off. The boys looked back to see Winter looking at them and they soon started to make their way towards the roof. But Winter ran at Donnie just as he was about to jump on the fire escape and tackled him to the ground, knocking him on his shell and Winter straddling him.

Winter looked down at him and gasped, he was a turtle; Donnie groaned since he was tackled down and he gasped as well when he saw Winter above him, looking down at him with a shocked look.

"You're a… turtle?" Winter questioned, she wasn't as much scared or shocked, but surprised.

Donnie didn't know how to answer, but then Winter placed one of her hands on his cheek and lightly rubbed his cheek with her thumb.

"Whoa" Winter gasped quietly.

"Are we interrupting something?" Raph teased as he, Leo and Mikey stood from across of them.

Winter looked up and gasped when she saw the others.

"How many are you exactly?" Winter questioned.

"Well let's see, there's one, two, three" Mikey said as he counted on his fingers, but stopped on three when he only had three fingers, "Just us"

"U-um, d-do you think you can get off?" Donnie asked nervously when she was still sitting on him.

"Huh? Oh! Ok" Winter said and got off of Donnie.

She helped him up and wiped some of the dust off of his shell, but she was still amazed by seeing a mutant turtle that she just ran her hand across his shell unconsciously.

"Why were you guys following me?" Winter asked, taking her hand away from Donnie's shell.

"April asked us to watch over you for safety" Mikey said and Raph smacked him upside the head.

"You guys know April?" Winter asked in surprise.

"Looks like the cats out of the bag, so we might as well tell her" Leo said.

"We saved April from Mouser robots that were created by Baxter Stockman" Donnie explained.

"Baxter Stockman, he's the most brilliant person in New York and you're telling me that he siced his Mouser robots on April! Why?"

"We'll explain once we get back to April's" Leo said.

"These cookies are amazing!" Mikey exclaimed as he ate the cookies Winter got from the bakery.

"My cookies! Those were for April and me!" Winter said as she walked towards him and snatched the box from his hands.

"Sorry" Mikey apologized.

"If you wanted some you could have just asked, you can't just take what you want without permission! What's wrong with you? Don't you have kind of manners?" Winter scolded.

"She's sure chewing him out" Raph laughed.

"I'm sorry" Mikey apologized again, then he placed on a smile, "So can I have some?"

"Well let's see, you already munched through half the box, so yeah, you can have the rest, it's not like I paid for them or anything" Winter said sarcastically.

"You sure know how to pick them, don't you Don" Raph teased, lightly elbowing Donnie.

Mikey looked a little disappointed, but then Winter handed him the box and he looked a lot more excited and started to eat them again.

"I can just go back and get some more" Winter said and started to walk out the alley, but she stopped and turned back to the turtles, "Do you guys want something while I'm at the baker? Think of it as a little gift for saving April, she's like a sister to me"

"Ok, thanks" Leo said.

The turtles went back to the roofs while Winter was at the bakery, then they went into April's home together. April heard a knock at the door and when she opened, she was a little surprised to see that Winter was with the turtles.

"You can explain later, right now, let's just relax" Winter said as she came in and sat on the coach.

"We'll explain later too" Donnie said as he came in and sat beside of Winter.

"And we'll explain now about what's going on with Don" Raph said as they all sat down in the living room and had fun.

**Ok, sorry if it was short, that's how the other introductions are gonna be like, but I'll try and think of how to make the chapters longer, and I'm also probably gonna put a few of the episodes in here too**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm in the first season right now and working my way through and I'm only gonna use a few of the episodes in the first season.  
**

The turtles were topside playing a game of ninjutsu hide n' seek and Leo was it, his brothers got a ten second head start, then when time was up, he headed out to find them. He only went searching for a few minutes before he stopped when he spotted something that interested him a little. There was this girl who looked to be about his age and she was wearing a black trench coat and a headband that had a silver butterfly that stood out against her dark hair.

The girl was coming out of a dance studio and she put on a trench coat and started to walk down the street. Leo didn't know why, but he started to follow her; after following her for a while, he then noticed that there were some Purple Dragons following her too and it seemed that the girl knew too because she glanced over her shoulder before she started to run and the Purple Dragons started chasing after her.

Leo followed behind and was about to jump in, but when the girl turned into another alley way, she started to push a dumpster and it caused the Purple Dragons to crash into it, which impressed Leo. But then the Purple Dragons moved the dumpster out of the way and then the girl used a trash can and grabbed onto the ladder of a fire escape.

As she was about to get to the first platform, one of the Purple Dragons grabbed her foot and harshly yanked her down to the ground, then he kicked her in the stomach, causing her to scream out in pain. That was the final straw for Leo, he jumped down and started to beat every Purple Dragon that was there. After that, they started to flee; Leo walked over to the girl, who was still groaning in pain and kneeled down to her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Leo asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

The girl looked up, her vision was a little blurry, but she caught a glimpse of Leo before she passed out, then Leo picked her up off the ground.

"Leo, what's going on?" Raph questioned.

He, Mikey and Donnie came by when they noticed that Leo hadn't found them yet, then they noticed that Leo had a girl in his arms.

"Looks like the hero finally got the girl" Mikey teased and Raph hit him in the back of the head.

"You idiot, can't you see she's damaged. Leo, what happened?" Raph questioned.

"When I was searching for you guys, I saw that the Purple Dragons were following her and she was about to get away when one of them pushed her down and kicked her" Leo explained, leaving out the part about following her himself.

"Purple Dragon scum, to actually kick a girl, that's low, even for them" Raph growled.

"Donnie, could you check her ribs? That's where one of them kicked her" Leo asked.

Donnie stepped forward and lightly pressed against her ribs, the girl arched her back and hissed in pain.

"I don't think they're broken, just bruised, we should take her to April's" Donnie suggested.

The turtles headed out to Aprils apartment and knocked on her door, when she answered, she gasped when she saw the girl in Leo's arms.

"Oh no, Sara!" April gasped.

"You know her?" Leo asked as he came in and laid Sara on the couch.

"Yes, I used to babysit her. What happened?" April asked as she rushed to get her first aid kit.

"Some Purple Dragon's jumped her, but she only has bruised on her ribs" Donnie informed.

April came back with the first aid kit and a pair of sweat clothes; she unbutton Sara's trench coat and she looked surprised to see her wearing a dress.

"Whoa, I didn't think Sara even owned a dress, she looks beautiful"

"What do you mean by that?" Mikey asked.

"Sara kind of dresses like a tomboy, she's a real rough and tough gal" April informed as she took Sara's trench coat off, then she turned to see that the boys were still there, "Uh, guys, you mind?"

The turtles understood and soon left the room while April undressed Sara, dressed her wounds and redressed her again with the sweat clothes. And it was just after April finished dressing Sara, that she started to stir, but she yelp as she sat up, thinking that she was still being mugged, but she groaned in pain and fell back down to the coach.

"Sara, you shouldn't move so much, you're badly wounded" April advised.

"A-April?" Sara questioned, opening one of her eyes to look at her, "Ah, it's hard to breath"

"You're ribs were bruised badly, so try not to take deep breaths"

"…I saw a turtle" Sara told and April tensed up a little, "It was so weird, I only saw him for a split second before I passed out, but it was defiantly a turtle, and…he was wearing a blue mask" Sara looked at April and managed to puff out a laugh without hurting herself, "Sounds kind of crazy huh? Seeing a giant turtle in New York…he saved me April, that was kind of him, and that's rare here, I wish I could see him again so I could thank him"

"…Aw man, Leo, come on out, Sara really wants to thank you" April called out.

Sara was a little confused at first, but she was surprised when she saw Leo come out with his brothers' right behind him.

"Whoa, so I guess I wasn't seeing things" Sara said, then looked behind him at the others, who waved, "There's more? How come I only saw you at the time?"

"I was by myself at the time, they came by shortly after you passed out" Leo explained.

Sara nodded, then she smiled brightly, which made Leo blush a little.

"Thanks a lot, uh, Leo was it?" Sara asked and Leo nodded, "Hey, is it cool if I call you my hero?"

Sara and April laughed a little at the joke, but Leo laughed a little nervously, he hoped that no one noticed.

"Hey April, can you not tell the girls that you saw me in that dress, I feel a little embarrassed" Sara asked.

"Why not? You look beautiful"

"It's just that I grew up with four older brothers and they used to torment me because I dressed like that"

"Is that why you dress like a tomboy?"

"Well, that and that I like the style; I just don't want others to look at me differently because I wear that dress, I'd like to know that they can count on me because I dress like a tomboy, that I can help get the job done"

"Oh Sara, it doesn't matter what you dress like, it's the attitude that you have to show for"

Sara smiled and laughed lightly, "Big sister to the rescue, as usual"

April and Sara laughed together again. The turtles hung around a bit, but they soon went home when Sara fell asleep.

"She seems to like you" Mikey teased a little, nudging Leo's shoulder.

"What are you talking about? She only thanked me for saving her" Leo said, he was already feeling nervous when she said that he was her hero.

"Yeah, but she asked for you to be her hero, that's really saying something" Raph piled on.

"She was only joking"

"But you seemed to take it literally" Donnie pointed out.

Leo felt himself tense a bit, so they must have noticed him laughing nervously.

"Sara and Leo, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Leo with a baby carriage!" Mikey sung, which caused Leo to start chasing him to get him to shut up.

The brothers saw clearly that Leo was crushing big time on Sara.


	4. Chapter 4

The turtles and Casey were at April's antique shop helping move some antiques around, and as usual, April and Casey got into an argument and the turtles knew to stay out of it. Their argument ended shortly when there was a knock on the door, the turtles hide while April went to answer it, when she opened the door, a young blonde girl with colorful highlights jumped on April.

"What is up April O'Neil?!" the girl said excitedly.

"Wow, who's the cutie?" Mikey said to Raph as they hid behind the counter.

"Maybe if you were quiet for once, you would hear her name" Raph said.

"What're you doing here Phoebe?" April asked, "It's after hours"

"Whoa, her name is as cute as she is" Mikey said.

"That's the reason that I came, I want to look at the stuff you got without other people around and so we can have some fun playing dress up" Phoebe laughed, "Oh, Viola's also here, she's hooking up her bike"

"That's great"

Phoebe then noticed Casey and waved at him.

"So is this guy your boyfriend?" Phoebe asked.

"What? O-oh no, he's just a friend who's helping me move some stuff around" April said a little nervously, then she changed that subject, "So, do you want to look at some accessories I have?"

"Sure, sounds great!"

April walked over to the counter where the accessories were.

"She's the cutest girl I've seen" Mikey said as he watched Phoebe smile as she tried on the accessories.

"Yeah, yeah; man, I'm related to a bunch of softies" Raph complained.

"Don't be jealous Raph, you'll find love one day"

"Hmph"

"You'll probably find a girl with a temper to match yours"

"If I do find a girl, she has to have a look as cool as the Shell Cycle, and a bad to the bone attitude"

"Like that?"

Raph was confused at first, but he heard the front door opened and he looked to see a girl with black hair walk in.

"Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about"

"Aww, Raphie found love" Mikey teased, but then Raph hit him on the head.

"Hey Viola, what do you think of these?" Phoebe asked, holding up a pair of earrings.

"Do you have any room?" Viola questioned, tucking Phoebe's hair behind her ear to reveal multiple ear piercings.

"Oh haha, you're so witty" Phoebe mocked, then she picked up a hair clip with a small pink bow with white polka dots, "Why not try this? Actually show you pretty face"

Viola was a little quiet and just as she was about to say something, Casey saw her.

"Hey, it's you!" Casey exclaimed, pointing at Viola.

"Do you know him?" Phoebe asked, it seemed like she doesn't remember.

Viola looked at him in confusion, then it seemed like she remembered, "Oh yeah, now I remember you"

"How do you know Casey?" April asked.

"I helped her out in protecting this little blonde girl when those Purple Dragon punks tried to rob her" Casey explained.

"So you were the guy in the hockey mask!" Phoebe said, finally remembering that day.

"Yeah, man April, you should have seen this girl, she was all over the place, she was pulling off some serious moves on those Purple Dragons" Casey explained, patting Viola on the shoulder a little harder than he intended, almost knocking her over.

"Wow, that's amazing!" April said.

"Yeah; so April, we came by to see if you wanted to come out with us to grab a bite to eat, our treat" Phoebe offered.

"Oh, well I was thinking of making a homemade meal and heading straight to bed" April said.

"Oh, well do you want us to bring something for your other friends?" Viola offered.

The turtles tensed a bit; how did she know that they were there?

"What are you talking about?" Phoebe asked.

"When I came in, I felt like there were other people here, they're good people though" Viola answered.

"Where are they?" Phoebe asked.

Viola was quick and she flipped over the counter and landed on the other side, coming face to face with Mikey and Raph. Viola looked surprised to see them, she wasn't freaked out or shocked.

"They're right here" Viola called out.

Phoebe came over and she gasped when she saw them, Mikey looked up, smiled nervously and waved. Phoebe gave a small half smile and waved back.

"Whoa, this is so cool!" Phoebe exclaimed, laughing a little with excitement.

"Yeah; so I'm Mikey, nice to meet you!" Mikey said as he stood up and held his hand out for Phoebe's and placed on his best smile.

"Slow your roll there Casanova" Raph said as he and Viola stood up as well.

Leo and Donnie soon came out as well since Raph and Mikey were caught.

"Two more! Where did you meet these guys April?" Phoebe asked.

"It's a long story" April said.

Everyone headed upstairs and April told the story of the turtles and Master Splinter.

**Ok, I'm done with the introductions, now I can start the story! Sorry that this story was shorter and didn't have much action like the last two or with the girls talking much to the turtles.  
**


	5. Darkness on the Edge of Town

Below in the sewers, the turtles were riding around in the sewer tunnels recklessly; Mikey on a skateboard, Raph on inline skates, Donnie on a bike and Leo on a scooter. Mikey and Raph were skating down one sewer tunnel and when then came out the other end and rode towards the lair, Donnie and Leo were coming down on the other side of the sewer tunnel.

But when they were passing the tunnel that Mikey and Raph came out of, something else had came out and the two turtles had to stop. They were surprised to see that it was a girl and when they took a closer look, they saw that it was Sara and she was wearing some boyish clothes and on a skateboard.

"What up turtles" Sara greeted, then she started to skate off into the lair and the two turtles followed suit. When Sara skated into the lair, she went up a ramp and did a 360 spin in the air and grinded against the edge of a table before landing perfectly on the ground and the turtles soon surrounded her.

"That was radical!" Mikey exclaimed, him and Sara giving each other a high-five.

"Those were some killer moves you pulled off" Raph complimented, him and Sara giving each other a fist bump.

"That's a different outfit you've got there" Leo pointed out.

"Watch it wandering eyes, my face is up here" Sara said, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"W-what? No-no, I-I wasn't-" Sara then playful punched Leo's arm and laughed.

"Chill out Leo, I was just joking. What was with the s-s-stutter" Sara and the brothers laughed as Leo blushed in embarrassment.

"What is going on here?" Everyone looked to see Splinter standing across from them, his eyes on the new face in the room.

"So is this the Master Splinter?" Sara whispered to Leo and he nodded, then she kicked up her skateboard into her hands and walked over to him, taking an uncertain bow, "I've heard about you from April and I wanted to greet you from your perspective out of respect, so sorry about this awkward greeting"

"It is quiet alright, it was a kind gesture. How did you find our lair?" Splinter asked.

"Leo texted me the address" Everyone looked at Leo and he smiled a little nervously.

"I gave it to her for, you know, emergencies" Leo said, hoping that they would by it.

"Yeah, a love emergency" Mikey joked and Donnie and Raph laughed while Sara looked a little confused.

"If you would mind, I would like to have a word with you" Splinter asked Sara.

"Yeah, I get it, some strange girl showed up that you know nothing about, I don't mind telling you what for about me. And if you don't mind, I'd like to know how you and the guys came to be because I'm kind of fascinated by all this" Sara asked. Splinter and Sara went into the kitchen so that Splinter could make some tea as the turtles continued to ride around the lair.

"But I was thinking about the situation more logically" Sara told as she walked out of the kitchen beside of Splinter as he carried a tray with tea, "If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done it, and if he didn't want to help me, he wouldn't have taken me to April's. Though, yes, I was a bit startled by his appearance being a giant mutant turtle with swords and all, but I base my judgment on actions, not appearances. And all of you seem normal; you're just a regular family with... special qualities, but I promise I won't tell anyone, I'm not a snitch and I care deeply of my friendships"

"You are very wise for you age" Splinter said as he placed his tray on the table.

"Yeah, I like to read a lot, and plus ballet brings out a more mature side of me"

"Heads up Sensei, Sara!" Donnie called out as he rode at speed on his bike, "I mean down!" Donnie jumped over them, Splinter pushing Sara's head down with his so she wouldn't get hit as well. Splinter then poured Sara and himself some tea, but then Raph came skating by and Splinter jumped over the table while Sara jumped back and fell onto the couch.

"Nice recovery Sensei!" Raph called out. Splinter sighed and went to grab himself a biscuit, but then Mikey came riding in and took one.

"Hey thanks Sensei!" Mikey said and continued to ride around.

"Extreme green!" the turtles shouted out.

"Yup, a normal family" Sara said, "They remind me of my brothers: reckless" Splinter sat down in the chair and turned the TV on, but then the TV shut down and all the lights went out with it. There was a loud crash and the turtles were groaning in pain. Then there was another crash.

"Who put that table there?" Sara questioned nervously.

"Nice wiring job Don" Mikey blamed.

"I guaranty it's not my wiring" Donnie said, "Maybe it's a blackout"

"Maybe. Now you want to get your foot off my shell!" A match was lit and Splinter lit a candle he was holding, brightening the room up to see that Raph, Mikey and Leo were piled on each other while Donnie was hanging over the ramp.

"Uh, keep that flame away from Mikey, he scarfed down a whole chili pizza for dinner" Leo warned.

Sara snorted a bit and started to laugh, "Good one Leo"

"Girls do go for a sense of humor, so try to develop one" Raph teased, earning a small glare from the blushing turtle.

"Clearly, there is a power failure; I suggest you investigate and see if it can be fixed" Splinter advised.

"We're all over it" Mikey said as he kicked up his skateboard. Raph pushed in the wheels of his skates into the shoe, Leo folded his scooter up and placed it in his belt and Donnie folded his bike up and strapped it to his back.

"I should probably be getting home too, it's a school night" Sara said as she kicked up her skateboard and began to follow the turtles.

"And hurry up, I do not wish to miss my favorite program" Splinter urged.

"So how far is your house?" Leo asked, wanting to make sure that Sara got home safe.

"Oh yeah, about that, I lied" Sara said bluntly.

"What?"

"I wanna hang out with you guys some more, see what ninja turtle vigilantes do in the shadows"

"We're just gonna check out what's causing this blackout" Donnie said.

"But you're ninja turtles, even checking out power outages sounds fun if it's with you guys"

"I know, we're pretty interesting guys" Mikey playfully gloated.

"For once, he's right" Raph said.

"So how exactly do you guys get around if you can't walk the streets or alleys?" Sara asked.

"We jump across roof tops" Leo answered.

"That's so cool! Can I hitch a ride with one of you guys?"

"I know Leo's eligible" Raph teased, earning another small glare from the blushing turtle.

"I was gonna chose him anyways, I was just asking to be nice"

"Oh, and why is that?" Mikey playfully asked, his other brothers interested in what her answer would be.

"Because, he's like totally my hero!" Sara said in a fake girly tone, but then laughed and playfully elbowed Leo, "I just feel safe with him" The turtles smirked at Leo as his face went a dark red, both happy and embarrassed. "He kind of reminded me of my brothers"

The turtles silently groaned to themselves, that really had to hurt Leo. When they made it to the top, Sara hung onto Leo's back as they jumped around the roof tops and saw that nearly the whole town was blacked out. Then they stood on top of a small water tower.

"You know" Leo spoke out, "I don't think Splinter meant to investigate this far"

"You can never be too thorough" Raph said, "Especially when it comes to topside time"

"So you call the streets 'topside'?" Sara asked, "You're acting like you've transported to another planet, you guys are just living on a lower level. I don't call my apartment roof 'topside'"

"It's what we turtles do" Mikey said.

"This whole side of town is dark" Donnie pointed out, "A substation must have gone out"

"Great, my TVs out too. Ain't I gonna have some fun at home" Sara said sarcastically.

"This isn't right" Leo said, "Shouldn't there be some emergency lights or something?"

"Yeah, it's totally dark down there" Raph said.

"That's a creeper fest" Sara said.

"Which means, there's only one thing for us to do" Mikey said with a smile. The turtles and Sara were outside on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art riding around on the railings, shouting out as they pulled off some moves.

"Guys, you really think we should be doing this?" Leo questioned, "What if somebody sees us?"

"That's the beauty of it Leo" Raph reassured, "No one _can_ see us, its pitch black"

"Get with the program bro" Mikey said, "It's a once in a life time opportunity to session some surface terrain"

"You gotta be more chilled out Leo" Sara said as she stood in front of the turtles, "You're a teenager, you got to experience just a little bad boy flair. Do it cool, like this" Sara placed her fingers in her left pocket, dropped her right hip slightly and leaned back slightly.

"You are cooler than ice" Mikey complimented.

"I'm surprise she can do cool, considering she's twinkle toes" Raph teased.

"At least I can count to five on one hand" Sara shot back.

"Ooohhh!" Mikey taunted, he and Sara giving each other high fives, but then Mikey caught on, "Hey!"

"Should you really be 'playing it cool' when a blackout has occurred?" a voice questioned out, causing everyone to look around for the person. When Mikey felt a tap on his shoulder, he screamed out a girly man scream and looked beside of him, calming down when he saw that it was only Viola.

"Don't sneak up on a turtle like that" Mikey scolded.

"I was standing right next to you when I was talking" Viola defended.

"You really blend into the background, you could be better at shadow magic than the turtles" Sara said, then she looked apologetically to the turtles, "No offense"

"Some taken" Mikey said.

"What're you doing out so late? And in this blackout?" Raph asked.

"When the lights in my apartment went out, I was a little skeptical about it just being a usual power outage since none of the emergency lights came on, so I came out to check around" Viola explained.

Donnie suddenly came skidding towards the group and spoke in a hushed tone, "Hey, check this out" Donnie pointed behind him and everyone looked up to see two people in black outfits scaling the wall on the side of the building. When they made it to the top, they snuck across the ledge and the turtles and girls hid behind some hedges.

"Didn't we fight these clowns once before?" Mikey reminded.

"Yeah, and we nearly got waxed" Donnie said.

"When did you fight these guys?" Viola asked, her eyes never leaving the mysterious ninjas.

"We fought them when we came up to the surface for the first time a few weeks back" Leo answered.

"Who's up for some payback?" Raph said as he stood up, took out his sais and twirled them around, trying a little to impress Viola.

"Payback isn't the most tactical reasoning and it doesn't stop a fight, it only continues it and it won't change anything" Viola said as she stood up and placed her hand on Raph's shoulder to calm him down, "But, considering that they're breaking into a museum, I think it's alright to kick them upside their bug eyed head, but you should use your heel, it causes more rupture" The turtles and Sara stared at Viola with a surprised look.

"You are very scary when you've got that 'death' look on your face" Sara said.

"I wasn't making a face"

"Exactly my point"

Viola just rolled her eyes, "Let's hurry before they steal anything"

"Whoa, whoa, slow your roll there" Raph called out.

"You girls can fight against these guys, they're too quick, even for us" Donnie said.

"You two should probably head home now before someone comes along" Leo said. The turtles soon snuck in a different way the other ninjas came in, leaving the two girls out in the dark.

"We're not going to our safe comfortable homes are we?" Sara questioned.

"It seems great minds think alike" Viola said.

"You know, you're a lot cooler and actual approachable when you're talking more"

"And you're honest and blunt, it's nice that you get straight to the point"

"Are you saying that sarcastically or are you praising me? It's hard to understand what you're really thinking when you're voice it the same and you're face is covered up"

"How about we just sneak into that museum now and quit stalling time"

"Good idea"

"But you have to not talk when we sneak in"

"You're also honest and blunt, I think we'll get along just fine"

Inside of the museum, the two ninjas had successfully snuck in and made their way towards a glass case that had a sword with a beautifully crafted handle. The first ninja placed on a glove that had a metal cutter attached to it and used it to cut a hole in the glass. Then the second ninja placed on a metal glove on his left hand and was about to reach into the case, but then a ninja star was thrown at the case.

"Gift shops on the first floor boys" Leo called out, "But they don't take kindly to shoplifters, and neither do we"

"Do they always use catchphrases when in battle?" Sara whispered as she and Viola hid on a high beam.

"They're just doing it to be witty, to mess with their opponent" Viola whispered, watching intensely close on the fight.

Sara looked questioningly at Viola, "How'd you manage to do all these things?"

"Do what?"

"Sneak into the building. Scale up to this high beam. That shadow magic earlier outside. That's really good. In fact, it's ninja good"

Viola glanced at her for a second before looking back down, "I... I watch a lot of movies"

"You're good at you're sneaky sneaky break in, but you're the worst liar in history. But I won't push anything until you're ready... but considering what situation we're in, I won't break it out of you until we're out of here"

One of the ninjas drew his sword while the other one tried to go for the sword again, but then another ninja star was thrown at the case.

"Now before you try to make off with the good, you might wanna consider a few things" Raph said, "One, you're outnumbered, two, don't let the pretty face fool you, we're tougher than we look" Suddenly, more ninjas came jumping in through the skylight and the turtles were surrounded.

"And three, we're about to get our butts seriously hammered" Mikey said nervously.

"Oh no" Sara silently gasped.

"You know how to fight?" Viola asked, reaching into her purse that she had strapped to her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know kickboxing"

"Then let's tag in" Viola said and handed Sara a black face mask with holes for the eyes.

Sara took it and looked at Viola questioningly, "And you just happen to carry this around?"

"Talk later" Viola said and placed the mask on her head.

Down below, the turtles were surrounded by the ninjas and one of them with a staff charged and Leo drew his swords and charged as well, slicing the staff in half. But then blades came out of the ninja's sliced staff and he tried to attack Leo again, but Leo turned around and the blades broke against his shell. Leo then slammed the ninja back into another ninja.

"Whew, saved by the shell" Leo sighed.

"Check it out!" Raph called out as he spun around on his skates, "Blades and blades" Raph skated towards a bunch of the ninjas. One of the ninjas had a katana and charged at Raph, but he slid down against the ground as the ninja swiped at him and sliced a vase instead.

"You break it pal, you bought it" Raph taunted, then as he skated off, the ninja chased after him, "And speaking of buying it" Raph jumped in the air and kicked the ninja, partially in the head with his heel, like Viola had said, knocking him back into a gong that echoed through the room.

With Donnie, he was faced with a ninja with a staff that had a long blade at the end. Donnie took his bike out and unfolded it and rode it towards the ninja. "Alioop!" Donnie shouted as he kicked up the front wheel into the ninja, knocking him into some armor.

Then another ninja came up from behind him and he took out his staff and held up like a knight would in the games, "Charge!" Donnie drove into the ninja and knocked him into some cabinets and broke a vase that was standing on top of it.

"Wahoo!" Mikey cheered as he rode his skateboard towards three ninjas and knocked them into one another, "Bowling for ninjas!" But as he was mockingly laughing while twirling his nunchakus, a chain wrapped around his wrist and he was being pulled towards a ninja with a kusari-gama.

"Heads up!" Mikey called out and kick jumped off his skateboard, making it slam into the ninjas stomach and knocking him down, "Way to pick up that spare" Mikey reached forward and ripped off the symbol on the ninjas outfit, "And a trophy to boot"

"A little help here!" Leo called out as he was being held up by three ninjas.

"We're on it!" Donnie, Raph and Mikey called out as they raced towards their brother. But as Leo continued to fight them and his brothers riding rapidly towards him, the ninjas jumped out of the way and they all slammed into one another hard.

"Oh, I sense a teamwork training session in our future" Mikey groaned. Then ninjas then started to make a retreat.

"Double time, they're getting away!" Leo called out. But as the other ninjas were running away, the ninja with the glove went to the case that had the sword in it and grabbed it. But just as he was about to run away with the others, the girls jumped out in front of him.

"What are you girls doing?" Leo questioned.

"Tag team" Sara said.

Viola rushed forward and kicked the sword out of the ninjas hands and then Sara rushed forward and kicked the ninja in the chest and knocked him into the case. When the sword came down, the girls grabbed the handle at the same time, but it started to spark and it cause it to explode, sending the girls flying back towards the guys.

"Sara!" "Viola!" Raph and Leo called out at the same time, rushing towards the fallen girls. Sara winced as she gripped at her wrist that looked completely burned, but Viola didn't look as affected as Sara. The ninja grabbed the sword off the ground and was about to run off again, but the turtles surrounded him.

"Just put the sword back sparky and we'll call it a draw" Raph said as he twirled his sai around.

The ninja backed up slightly, but then he raised the sword and it started to glow brightly, blinding the turtles, and hum loudly. Suddenly, waves had came out of the sword and blasted the turtles back far across the room while the girls ducked down to the ground to avoid the blast. The ninja soon ran off.

"How about best two out of three?" Mikey said as they all stood up.

"What was that sword?" Donnie questioned.

"Hold that thought, we got to book" Leo said as sirens sounded out from outside.

When the guys were making their way towards the girls, they were surprised to see that Viola had disappeared, but they didn't have much time to worry about where she had gone off to. Leo ran towards Sara and picked her up bridal style since her hand was too burned for her to hold on riding on his back. Then they all ran out of the building before the cops arrived. They soon went back home and had shown Splinter the symbol that Mikey took while he wrapped Sara's burned hand with bandages.

"What does the symbol mean Master Splinter?" Leo asked.

"Touble" Splinter answered, tying off Sara's bandages and she winced slightly, "One that you shouldn't have gotten yourself in"

"I know, but I'm a 'hit first, ask questions later' person, my judgment can be shot at times" Sara apologized.

"You know something about these ninjas?" Raph asked, "Where do they come from? Who do they work for?"

"And what do they want with a magic sword?" Mikey added.

"Nope, not magic" Donnie said, "Probably more like a self-perpetuating oscillation frequency generator"

"You sound so much like Winter" Sara said.

"Uh, in English Einstein" Mikey said.

"It packs a shockwave that will knock you flat on your shell"

"We gotta go after these creeps" Raph said as he drew his sais.

"No" Splinter objected as he walked towards his room, "A wise ninja does not seek out an enemy he does not fully understand"

"But sensei" Leo called out, "Bushido demands that we fight for honor and justice and-"

"Bushido also demands that you honor you honor your masters wishes!" Splinter interrupted, "I will meditate upon this matter further. Goodnight" Splinter then closed the door to his room.

"Aww, underground again" Mikey whined. Donnie then started to think for a bit before snapping his fingers at a thought and started to run off.

"Where are you going brainiac?" Raph questioned. Everyone soon began to follow him towards his laboratory area and to his desk.

"There's more than one way to seek out your enemy" Donnie said as he started to type on his computer.

"So" Leo started as he turned to Sara, "Are you gonna be ok? You know, with your hand"

Sara looked down at her singed hand, "I hope so, I can't go to ballet class handicapped. But the pain numbed, so I'll be fine"

"Do you want me to take you home now? It's pretty late and your parents must be worried"

"I-it's alright... my parents are... kind of working late, so they probably won't be home tonight. Is it alright if I spend the night here? Since they won't be at home, I'll be alone and after tonight, I think I'd feel much safer if I was here with you guys"

"If you're ok with it, then it's fine by me"

"Thanks" Sara said and smiled sweetly, making Leo blush, but he smiled back too.

The next night, Mikey and Sara were sitting on the couch with Mikey eating some chips and reading a comic book, Donnie was still working on something, Leo was practicing some kata moves and Raph was taking his anger out on the practice dummy.

"What's up with the big chesse?" Mikey questioned when he glanced back at Splinters room, "He's been zoning in there all day"

"It's that ninja symbol" Leo answered, throwing a few kicks in the air, "It's got sensei all weirded out"

"Enough of this waiting around!" Raph shouted in frustration as he kept punching the bag, "I say we head topside, kick ninja butt, take ninja names, and find out the whole ninja story for ourselves!" Raph then kicked the head off the dummy all the way across the room and landed in Mikey's snack bag.

"Whoa" Mikey gasped as he saw the head in his potatoes chip bag, "Remind me to never get on your bad side dude"

"Too late" Raph said as he was making his way towards the exit, but then Leo jumped out in front of him to block him.

"Hang on Raph, no one's going anywhere" Leo said.

"Give him a break Leo" Sara advised as she walked to stand in front of the two brothers, "He's just a little stressed because he doesn't know where Viola is"

"W-what! What are you talking about? I'm not stressed out because of her" Raph denied obviously.

Sara gave Raph a skeptical look, "I may not have known you that long, but you wear your heart on your sleeve and I can clearly see that you have a major thing for the goth girl"

"I do not!"

"Denial~"

"Guys, check this out!" Donnie called out from his computer table, "I hacked into the power company's computer system," The four gathered around Donnie as he showed them what was up, "Looks like there's another blackout down by the South Street Seaport"

"I smell a rat, and I don't mean Splinter" Raph said and was about to walk out again with the other two turtles following behind.

"Hang on guys!" Leo called out, "Splinter told us-"

"Not to go after the ninjas" Raph interrupted, "He didn't say anything not investigating power failures"

"Excellent" Donnie said, "I have a few new surveillance toys I want to test"

"Urg, wait up!" Leo called out and started to chase after them, "It's tough being the leader"

Sara watched as he was the last to leave the room and crossed her arm with a small smile, "I wish I had time to make a bet with them about Viola being there"

The four turtles were soon standing on the top of the construction of the bridge to overlook the seaport that was completely dark.

"Total blackout" Raph said, "Just like last night"

"But this time I came prepared" Donnie said as he reached into his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of goggles and Mikey grabbed at them.

"Awesome!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly as he placed the goggles on his head, "Total turtle-vision!"

"Night vision actually" Donnie corrected as he took the goggles away and placed them on himself.

"How do we survey such a large area?" Leo asked.

"I came prepared for that too" Donnie said and pulled a string and gliders popped out from behind him, "I've been dying to try this puppy"

"You mean you haven't tested it yet?" Leo questioned worriedly.

"Dude, how's he supposed to test a flying machine in the sewers?" Mikey said.

"We'll stay in touch via shellcell" Donnie informed, "I worked out all the theoretical aero dynamics" Donnie started to run towards the ledge, "It's practically full proOOOOFFF!" Donnie dove down fast towards the water, but managed to dodge it and fly around.

"But is it Don proof?" Raph questioned as he watched his brother fly around.

"Don? Don!" Leo called out on his shellcell.

"I'm ok, no problem" Donnie called back, "Just forgot to compensate the wind drag on my bo staff" As Donnie continued to fly around to look out for anything, he picked something up through his night vision goggles. "Guys" Donnie called out, "I'm picking up something strange down on the river" "What is it?" Leo asked. "It looks like... they're searching for something under the water"

"Who's searching?"

Donnie took a closer look, "It's our ninja buddies again; they have that sword they stole rigged up to some vibrational cannon, I'm over pier sixteen"

"We're there" Leo said as the three started to run across the poles to get to the pier.

"I'm going in for a closer-!" Donnie accidentally too close to the vibrations and it caused him to swerve out of control.

"Don, what is it?" Leo called out.

"Mayday! Mayday!" Donnie shouted as he continued to spiral out of control, "I'm going down!" Donnie then crashed into the water as his brothers were rushing to him.

"Don, can you hear me?" Leo called, "Say something bud"

Donnie's broken glider floated at the top before Donnie himself popped his head out, spitting out some water, "Man, that water stinks! And this is from a turtle who lives in the sewers"

"Yes!" the three turtles cheered out in relief.

"Do you need some help?" a familiar voice called out. Donnie looked up and saw Viola down on one knee at the edge of the pier with a mask on her face.

"What the?" Donnie questioned.

"What is it?" Leo called out.

"Uh, Raph, your girl's here"

"What?" Raph questioned, "What's she doing there?"

"I'll ask her when I'm out of the water" Donnie said. Donnie held his staff out and Viola grabbed onto it, hoisting Donnie out of the water.

"What are you doing there?" Raph questioned Viola.

"I can't fully explain the situation at the moment, but please, trust me when I say that I'll tell you when the time comes" Viola pleaded.

"...Alright, we'll wait until you're ready to tell us, but you have to be careful" Leo said, "I have a visual on the cannon; I only see two guys, but that just means the others are hiding" Just as Leo said that, more of the ninjas jumped out from the ships and surrounded the turtles.

"I hate it when he's right" Mikey groaned.

"Let's turtleize them!" the three shouted as they drew their weapons and jumped into battle.

As the three turtles fought against the ninjas, Donnie and Viola were sneaking around to get to the others, but then they were being attacked by two ninjas as well. Donnie had knocked down the two and Viola grabbed the fallen sword of one of them. They both then hopped aboard the ship and began to fight along with the others. Raph was climbing up a rope ladder, but then one of the ninjas jumped to the top and cut the support line and Raph began to fall, but then he used his sai to stab into the wooden pole as he was barely an inch from the ground. Then Mikey was being faced off by three of the ninjas.

"A vast ye scurvy seadog!" Mikey bellowed out in a pirate tone as he twirled his nunchakus and was being backed up as the three ninjas approached him, "Arrgg, shiver me timbers and blow me down!" but then he was back up to the wall and the ninjas continued to approach him, "Ok, about that blow me down part" Just as the ninjas were beginning to charge at him, Viola swung down from a rope and knocked the three into the river.

"You're a true pirate Viola!" Mikey cheered. As the turtles continued their fight, a helicopter had came in and hovered over the hole in the river, then it lowered a claw and grabbed whatever it was at the bottom of the river. Back at the ship, Raph was being faced with two ninjas and one of htme threw his chain at him, but Raph caught it with his sai.

"Nice try dipstick" Raph taunted. But then the other ninja threw another chain and it wrapped around his legs and he was knocked over the ledge to dangle. Then the other ninja jumped down to stand in front of Raph. Leo then grabbed a rope and used it to swing towards Raph.

"Who says I never cut you a break?" Leo said as he cut the chain to Raph and he dropped right on top of the ninja below him.

"Not pretty, but I'll take it" Raph said. After Donnie had dealt with the last two ninjas, knocking them into a life boat and down into the water, the other three ran to Donnie. They looked up and saw Viola swinging from the rope and let go, spinning in the air a few times before she landed perfectly with the others.

"Nice landing" Raph complemented.

"I think this team work effort gets a 'Most Improved'" Leo said.

"Schools not out yet" Donnie said as he turned to look at the helicopter, "That's one cool as shell chopper"

"What's up with Barnacle Bill?" Mikey questioned when they saw that the helicopter claw lifted something up from the river.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good" Raph said.

"We better hurry before the other two get away with the sword again" Viola suggested and started to make her way towards the cannon with the other four following behind. As they were making their way down the dock, the cannon had been turned off and the two guys were getting ready to make their leave.

"Now boys" Leo called out as he popped up from the edge of the panel, "There's a small matter of some stolen property we need to discuss"

The two tried to run a different way, but then Donnie and Raph popped up as well. "Dudes, you shouldn't be playing with such dangerous toys" Donnie said.

They began to run a different way, but then Mikey had popped up and growled while Viola had climbed up on the other side of the cannon secretly. The two backed up to the cannon, then one of the guys took something from his belt and aimed it at Mikey and shot out a laser. Mikey ducked in time and Leo climbed on top of the panel and kicked the guy down, causing the laser to spiral out of control and it hit the control panel of the cannon and the whole panel began to shake violently. The helicopter soon came back and the two guys grabbed onto the landing gear.

"They're getting away!" Raph called out as the helicopter flew away. The cannon had started up again and it moved towards the docks, blasting vibration waves at the ground.

"I think we've got bigger problems!" Donnie pointed out as the docks broke apart and the ground began to collapse as well towards the buildings.

"Talk about bad vibes!" Mikey said.

"Not funny Mike" Raph said.

"Don, can you shut it down?" Leo asked.

"Well, I might be able to disconnect the sword from the accelerator" Donnie said as he hopped up onto the cannon, "But crossing the power terminator could result in a feedback loop that might-"

"Donnie, whatever!" Leo interrupted, "Meantime, let's point this thing away from civilization!" As the turtles tried to push the cannon away, with no luck whatsoever, another helicopter came flying in.

"This is the police! You on the pier, stop where you are!"

"Hurry up Don!" Raph called out, "Before we end up on Americas Most Wanted Reptiles!"

"Almost there" Donnie said as he continued to mess with the wires, but then he connected two wrong wires and caused the cannon to spin out of control.

"We got to steady this thing!" Leo called out.

"We can't!" Viole called out and the turtles looked up to see her standing on top of the cannon with a metal glove on her hand, "We just have to cut off its main power!" Viola reached down and took the sword out of its place and the cannon started to make a humming sound.

"Let's get out of here!" Donnie shouted. Viola jumped down from the cannon and Raph had caught her before setting her back on her feet and they all jumped down onto the docks and away from the cannon just as it collapsed into the river and exploded.

"Whoa, awesome light show" Mikey said.

"And speaking of light shows" Leo said as he looked up to see the helicopter flying towards them.

When they were about to run, they were surprised again to see that Viola had disappeared, but the sword was stabbed into the wooden docks with the glove next to it. Donnie placed the glove on his hand and grabbed the sword and they all ran off down the alleyway before the spotlight could catch them. They were soon back home and had given the glove and sword to Splinter.

"The design is unmistakably 11th century Japanese" Splinter said, "But the metal is unlike anything I have ever seen. Clearly, there is more to this sword that meets the eye" Splinter stood up and placed the sword on a rack, "Best it remains out of the wrong hands"

"So guys" Sara called out, "I was about to make a bet to see if Viola would show up, but you ran off so fast"

"How could you have known that Viola would have been there?" Leo asked.

"I don't know. Last night at the museum, she was giving off these vibes when we were hiding on top of the beams. So I suspected that she might be at the pier as well"

"Yeah, and she was going to explain something to us about why she was there, but she ran off again" Raph said.

"She's a real mystery" Sara said as she looked up at the ceiling, thinking about where Viola was now. Up on the roof tops, Viola sat on the ledge of her apartment building, looking down at her silver medallion of a henna design water lily on the front, gripping it tightly between her fingers.


	6. The Way of Invisibility

Splinter had lit a candle and faced his sons, he and the turtles balancing on wooden poles.

"My sons, tonight, our training shall focus on combining two essential disciplines, the way of balance," Splinter said and clapped his hands, turning the lights off, "And the way of invisibility"

"Dude, you put in the clapper!" Mikey said excitedly to Donnie, then Splinter jumped in front of him and hit him with his walking stick.

"Michelangelo, the way of invisibility also includes the way of silence" Splinter scolded, "I suggested you employ both if you wish to avoid my walking stick"

Splinter soon jumped onto the other wooden poles with excellent skills and attacked Leo first and he managed to jumped out of the way in time. Then Donnie jumped in to try and kick Splinter, but he avoided it, then Raph did the same and Splinter avoided it as well. But when Mikey came in, he clapped his hands, bringing the lights on and he spotted Splinter.

"Peek a boo, I see you" Mikey said.

Splinter threw his walking stick at him, but Mikey caught it, then Splinter yanked it away and Mikey lost his balance and fell, but he grabbed onto a pole before he touched the ground.

"Hey, don't I at least get points for creativity" Mikey questioned.

"A creative mind must be balanced by a disciplined body" Splinter said, then turned the lights off again, "We must learn stillness and alertness for they are the only defense against the unexpected"

The elevator door opened and a figure was walking blindly through the lair until he ran into the wooden poles and knocked the turtles and Splinter down. Splinter went into defense mode and tackled the figure down.

"Master Splinter, no!" Leo called out, then the lights came back on, revealing the figure to be Casey, "He's ok"

"Sensei, this is Casey, the nutca- uh, the guy we told you about" Donnie added.

"You remember, the igilanteeay" Mikey said.

"We figured it'd be ok to give him access to the lair, you know, for emergencies and stuff" Raph said.

Splinter got off of Casey and bowed, "Please forgive my rash action"

Mikey and Donnie helped Casey up and he took off his mask.

"No problemo" Casey said.

"Although, next time, you would be wise to head the ancient Japanese proverb, phone first!" Splinter scolded.

"Then I should have said something before I came" a voice called out.

Everyone looked towards the couch and saw that Viola was looking back at them.

"How long have you been here?" Raph questioned.

"I've been here for a while I guess" Viola said, then she stood up and stood in front of Splinter and bowed, "Please forgive me for not saying anything when I came in, I was on my way home when I spotted the turtles jumping down into the sewers and curiosity got the best of me; my name is Viola"

"Oh yes, Raphael has spoken much about you" Splinter said with a small laugh.

"U-uh, and the other girls, you know, Phoebe, Winter and Sara, the whole lot!" Raph said to cover himself, his brothers laughing quietly.

"For you to have been here for so long and for me to not notice is most impressive" Splinter said, then started to gather the wooden pole.

"Whoa, Raph, your crib's even more awesome than you said" Casey said as he looked around, kicking one of the poles.

"You didn't come down here for the nickel tour; what's the 411 side-street?" Raph asked.

"Graffiti, it's everywhere, all over town" Casey informed.

"And I speak for everyone in the room when I say, duh" Mikey said.

"We're New Yorkers Casey, we've seen graffiti before" Donnie said.

"Uh-uh, not like this" Casey said and pulled out a picture of a sword piercing four turtles, "I think someone's trying to send you a message"

"Wait a minute, I think I've seen a few like these before" Viola said, taking a look at the picture.

"Bleh, talk about getting the point" Mikey said.

"Some are a little more graphic" Casey said.

"You can say that again, I wish I could erase them from my mind" Viola said.

"Hey, cool sword" Casey said when he saw a sword near Donnie's table, "Looks just like the one in the graffiti"

Casey pushed passed Mikey and Donnie and made his way towards the sword and started to reach for it.

"Casey, no!" Donnie warned.

Casey touched to sword and was thrown back by the electricity into a bookshelf.

"Remind me, who's idea was it to invite him down here?" Donnie questioned.

Everyone soon ran over to Casey and helped him up. Viola made her way towards the sword, which was knocked over due to the shock between it and Casey and reached for it.

"Viola, wait!" Raph called out.

Everyone was completely shocked when Viola picked the sword up with her bare hand and placed it back on the rack. Once everyone was over the shock, Splinter lead Casey towards the elevator.

"I'd thank you for this information Mr. Jones, but now, we must return to our training" Splinter said as he tried to lead Casey out.

"Wait, don't you guys wanna put the smack-down on the scum who did this?" Casey questioned.

"Well, yeah, but it smells way too much like a set-up" Mikey said.

"Someone's just trying to get under our shells; why should we stoop to their level?" Donnie questioned.

"But this is a matter of honor; what about all that bushidoodoo stuff you guys always talk about?" Casey questioned.

"It's bushido, which has nothing to do with payback for a bunch of nasty wall doodles" Leo said.

"Sorry Case, I gotta go with my bros on this one" Raph said, then they started to lead Casey to the elevator.

"Aww man" Casey whined, but he seemed to perk up a bit when he saw the _many _TVs in the living room, "Say" Casey made his way towards the coach, sat down and grabbed a slice of pizza, "So what's on the tube?"

The turtles started to look a little troubled as Casey ate their food and watched their TV.

"Hey guys" Viola spoke and the turtles turned to look at her and she was holding her arms together, "Do you…feel that?"

"Feel what?" Leo asked.

Viola seemed a little distant and looked off at the other end of the lair, "I don't know, but I have this chill that I can't explain"

"It's ok Viola, it's probably because we haven't installed a heater yet, so it's a bit drafty down here" Raph said.

Viola looked backed at him, then she sighed a little and nodded; everyone soon went to do what they usually do, Raph even got to convince Viola to spare with him to try and get some time with her. Mikey was sitting in the living room with Casey and was reaching for the last piece of pizza, but Casey grabbed and ate it; Leo came in and shut the TV off and yawned.

"Sure is getting late" Leo said to try and convince Casey to leave.

"These the only DVDs you got?" Casey questioned as he looked through Mikey's DVD collection.

"Yeah, in fact, why don't you borrow some and bring them back" Mikey said as he tried to convince Casey to leave too.

"That's ok, I'll just watch them here" Casey said as he grabbed on and went to the computer and was repeatedly pressing the eject button, "Come on, eject, eject, you useless piece of-" Casey then kicked the DVD played, destroying it completely and Mikey screamed, "Uh, think your players broken"

"Uh, no problem, I'll fix it, in the _morning" _Donnie said in the same tone as his brothers.

"You're brothers really don't like Casey being here huh?" Viola asked as she continued to spare with Raph.

"Yeah, we like him, but he can be a little over bearing" Raph said.

"Whatcha working on?" Casey asked as he made his way towards Donnie.

"Uh, boring stuff, really, really boring stuff" Donnie said as he tried to keep Casey from taking any interest in it.

"Hey Raph, let's wrestle!" Casey shouted as he tackled Raph out of his sparing session with Viola.

"Let go bonehead, I was busy with something else!" Raph shouted as he tried to get Casey off of him.

"No way, dipstick!" Casey laughed.

They continued to call each other names as they rolled around, but stopped when Splinter placed his walking stick in front of them.

"Raphael, normally, I discourage excursion to the surface, but I think it wise for you to take our _guest _for a breath of fresh air" Splinter advised.

"Topside, I'm all over it" Raph said with a thumbs up.

"Booyah!" Casey exclaimed.

"I should head home too, I'm a little worn out" Viola said, stretching her arms out.

"I'll show you home" Raph said a little too quickly.

"Thanks Raph" Viola said.

"Race you to the top!" Casey yelled and pushed Raph back.

Viola and Raph soon chased after him and made it to the top, then they decided to go to the roofs for a faster way and Casey and Raph were doing flips and tricks while Viola just ran after them, shaking her head and sighing when Casey and Raph kept calling each other names.

"Spray paint?" Casey questioned as he stopped to look around when he heard spray paint.

"Spray paint? What kind of lame trash talk is that?" Raph questioned.

"I don't think it's supposed to be trash talk" Viola said as she jumped in.

"No listen" Casey said.

They all looked down to see some Purple Dragons spray painting a dragon eating four turtles on the wall.

"Why don't we show them a little something about what happens when you mess with the turtles" Raph said.

"Just leave them, like Leo said, it's just wall doodles" Viola advised.

"Then you can stay up here, you don't have to be involved, just let us do our thing" Raph said as he placed his hands on Viola's shoulder.

Viola just sighed and just walked away.

"Don't you have a way with the ladies" Casey teased.

Raph just glared at him, then he and Casey jumped down in front of them.

"Hi, we're the neighborhood clean and green, doing our part to stamp out tags!" Raph said.

A Purple Dragon with a chain attacked Raph, but he blocked it and kicked him, then a Purple Dragon with two bats came at Casey.

"You're totally stealing my act" Casey said and blocked the Dragon's blows.

A Purple Dragon ran off and hid behind a dumpster and started to make a call.

"We got one" the Dragon said.

But then someone grabbed the phone and hung up, the Dragon looked up to see that it was Viola.

"What are you doing here, I thought you went home?" Raph asked as he knocked a Dragon down.

Casey and Raph soon finished off the Dragons and threw them into a pile.

"Piece of cake" Casey said, then he turned to Viola, "So what are you doing here?"

"I felt something, an enemy or something" Viola answered.

"Well it's too late, we already took them down" Raph said, indicating the Purple Dragon pile.

"Someone made a call" Viola said and tossed the phone to Casey.

"And here it comes!" Raph said, pointing to two Foot ninja jumping down to them from the buildings far away.

"Whoa, those things aren't human" Casey said as he gripped his bat.

"In case you haven't noticed, neither am I" Raph said as he twirled his sai.

Casey and Raph soon started to charge at the Foot, but then they pressed a button on their new suits and they disappeared.

"Where'd they go?" Casey questioned as he looked around.

"Watch out!" Viola cried out.

Casey and Raph were thrown back and landed hard, Viola ran over to Raph and kneeled down to him.

"Are you guys alright?" Viola asked.

"Urg, they must have some kind of; what do you call it? Cloaking device" Raph groaned and sat up.

"Cloaking device? What are they, klingons?" Casey questioned.

The Foot ninjas got closer, stepping into some puddles and leaving foot prints; Raph jumped at the one Foot, but he caught him. Casey ran over to one of the spray paint can, picked it up and sprayed the Foot, then when he could see him, he used his hockey stick to make the Foot drop Raph. The Foot made his way towards Casey and he tried to hit him again with his hockey stick, but the Foot blocked it with his arm and it snapped, then Casey and Raph were knocked back into the stands, knocking them out.

Viola was all that was left, she took stance and waited, she stood still and listened closely. Then she did a spin kick in the air and knocked one of the Foot into the wall, the she threw a punch at the other Foot, knocking him down as well. But then the Foot grabbed her from behind and the other Foot sprayed something in her face, and she passed out. The Foot then pressed the button on their suits and they reappeared again, then they dragged Raph and Casey out from the wreckage.

"Target apprehended" one of the Foot said.

"What about these two?" the other Foot said.

The Foot dragging Raph went to Viola and moved her hair out of her face.

"It's the other one, I'm sure that the master would like to finish the job he started" the Foot said.

"Just leave the man in the hockey mask to us" one of the Purple Dragons said when they all woke up.

The Foot let Casey go and they carried Raph and Viola away.

"It's payback time" the Purple Dragon said as they surrounded Casey.

When the Purple Dragons raised their weapons, Casey jumped up, faking being knocked out and sprayed the Dragons with the spray paint. While they were blinded, Casey started to run, but he picked up a piece of the Foots gear that was knocked off.

Raph began to stir and when he opened his eyes, he looked around.

"Where am I?" Raph questioned.

"Glad to see you're awake"

Raph looked over and saw that Viola was in the room with him strapped to a table.

"Why're you here? I can understand what they want with me, but what's that got to do with you" Raph questioned.

"This is some nice steel" a deep voice spoke and they turned to see a man known as Hun holding one of Raph's sais, "How about you telling me who gave them to you?"

"Yo momma" Raph said, then Hun stuck the sais near Raph's head.

"Raph, don't provoke this guy" Viola warned, giving a glare at Hun.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quiet hear you" Hun said as he took the sais and tossed them on the table, then grabbed Raph's shell-cell and crushed it, "You know, I get a little clumsy when people don't answer my questions"

"Hey, nice tat" Raph said when he saw a Purple Dragon on Hun's arm, "Purple Dragon or just some big ugly chicken?"

"We'll start with just exactly what kind of freak are you anyway" Hun said as he aimed the light at Raph.

"Who are _you _exactly? And what do you want with us?" Viola questioned.

Hun looked at her, then he started to circle her, like he was thinking.

"You know, something about you seems familiar, I just can't put my finger on it" Hun said, then he smirked, "I think I know where!"

Hun grabbed Viola's head and slammed it back against the table and Viola grunted in pain.

"Hey, get your filthy monkey hand off her!" Raph shouted.

Hun gripped and pulled Viola's hair up to reveal her face and even in the situation that they were in, Raph became a little distracted when he actually got to see Viola's face for the first time.

"Ah yes, now I remember, I'm sure that my master would like to _talk_ with you after I finish with this freak" Hun said as he walked back over to Raph, "Now, who do you work for? How long have you been on this planet? What is the level of your technology?"

"Planet? Technology? Boy, aren't you barking up the wrong shell" Raph said.

"Answer me!" Hun shouted and hit Raph in the face.

"Urg, come to think of it; who do you work for? I mean you look way too dumb to be in charge of all of this" Raph said as he tried to jiggle his hand free.

"Your choice" Hun said as he grabbed a buzz saw and held it towards Raph, "You can talk, or you can let you DNA do the talking for you; now is there something you want to tell me?"

"Just this!" Raph shouted when he got his hand free and punched Hun in the stomach, then he grabbed a mask that was hanging above him and held it over Hun's mouth, "Sweet dreams lard butt"

Hun back up as he coughed and Raph grabbed the saw and cut himself free, then he ran over to Viola and cut her free as well. Raph grabbed his sais and broken shell-cell and they both made their way outside, only to notice that they were on a boat in the middle of the Hudson River and they made their way towards the edge.

"Good thing turtles are amphibious" Raph said, then turned to Viola, "Can you swim?"

Raph mentally face palmed himself when he said that, why would he ask her if she could swim.

"Yeah, but I'm not the fast; do you think I can hitch a ride with you?" Viola asked.

Raph nodded and Viola jumped onto Raph's back and then he jumped into the bay. They made it to the peers and Viola got off of Raph and pushed her hair back; Raph became distracted again when he saw her face again, he couldn't help it, she looked beautiful.

"Raph?" Viola questioned when she noticed that Raph was looking at her.

"Oh uh, we should get going, we need to let the others know that we're alright" Raph said and they both started to run.

They were running in the sewers and they came to a large opening in the tunnels that had a whirlpool. As Raph and Viola were crossing the bridge over the whirlpool, Viola turned around and threw a punch and a kick. Then Donnie and Leo jumped down and knocked down a few of the Foot ninjas as well and they continued to fight.

"Uh guys, what're you-"

"Ever hear the one about the invisible ninjas?" Donnie said as he and Leo had a pair of goggles on that could help them see the invisible ninjas.

"How're you able to see them Viola?" Leo asked.

"I have a sixth sense" Viola said as she took stance.

Donnie and Leo were picked up, twirled around and thrown over to the other side of the tunnel, but Viola seemed to knock a few down.

"Hey" Casey said when he and Mikey came down, "Did I mention that these guys were really strong too?"

"Urg, might have been useful info" Leo groaned as he and Donnie stood up and saw that Viola was easily dodging and knocking the invisible ninjas down.

"How is she able to beat down super strong invisible ninjas?" Donnie questioned.

"Probably the reason why Raph's so into her" Leo teased.

The brothers and Casey watched as Raph joined in on the fight, but wasn't getting a hit and kept getting hit instead.

"Uh, think we should give him a hand?" Mikey suggested.

The brothers started to charge into battle while Casey pulled out his golf club, then he hit some mud on a few of the ninjas, letting Raph see them; Raph soon kicked the two that he saw.

"Their cloaking controls look to be somewhere around the chest plates" Donnie informed.

"You mean here!" Leo said as he jumped and slashed two of the invisible ninjas chest plates to reveal themselves.

Then Donnie came in and knocked them down.

"Can I call them or what?" Donnie gloated a little.

"So, I guess that's that" Raph said.

"Hey, let me go!"

The turtles and Casey look above them to see that Viola was being hanged upside down by her foot over the whirlpool.

"Viola!" everyone shouted.

"Drop your weapons and surrender" the Foot holding Viola said, then appeared, "My grip is loosening, I suggest you drop your weapons, now"

"Don't do it guys, I can handle this!" Viola said.

The turtles dropped their weapons, but then they noticed that Mikey was missing; but nobody noticed that Mikey was actually above on the pipes.

"The way of balance and the way of invisibility" Mikey said in Splinters voice.

Mikey jumped down and kicked the Foot ninja off the railing, but Viola also fell into the whirlpool.

"Viola!" Raph shouted and was trying to make his way towards the whirlpool.

But the Foot were blocking them, they managed to defeat all of them and throw them into the whirlpool as well. The turtles made ran to look into the whirlpool and were relieved to see that Viola was clinging onto one of the poles.

"Someone wanna give me a hand?" Viola called out.

Donnie used his bo staff to reach out to Viola and she grabbed it and was lifted out of the whirlpool.

"Man, you near gave me a heart attack!" Raph said, then he blushed when his brothers smirked at him, "A-all of us are glad you're alright now"

"Yeah" Viola said as she squeezed some water out of her hair, then she started to shake her boot and some water splashed out, "But I've had water swishing around in my boots since we came out of the river"

"Man, I'm beat" Casey said, "Maybe I should crash at your place tonight"

"No!" Leo said quickly, "I mean, nothing beats the comfort of sleeping in your own bed"

"We'll give you a ride, have you home in no time" Donnie said.

"Carry you up the stair, tuck you in, heck, we'll even tell you a bed time story" Mikey said as the three turtles lead Casey out of the tunnels.

"Hey Viola" Raph called out when she was about to follow them, "What was that all about on the boat? Why were you brought with me and why would Hun's master want to talk to you?"

Viola stood there with her back facing Raph, then she turned around and placed on a small smile.

"How should I know, maybe they mistaken me for someone else, I get that a lot"

Raph didn't say anything, but just nodded and decided to leave it alone for now, then they left to follow the others.


	7. Fallen Angel

The morning after the Purple Dragon bust, the turtles and the girls were hanging out at the turtles lair. Winter was leaning against the van, watching as Donnie was rewiring it and Mikey had jumped in beside of him.

"Whatcha doing Donnie?" Mikey asked.

"Working up a remote control system for the battle shell" Donnie informed.

"Sweet" Mikey said as he touched something and his hand was smacked away.

"Don't touch, these are high sophisticated sensors"

"Oohh, aren't we mister uptight" Winter teased, "You have some real potential here Donnie, and imagination"

"Imagination?" Donnie asked.

"Yeah, you're hooking the van up with a remote control system, like a remote toy car. You may have a mind of a genius, but you have a heart of a child; remember to never forget that or you'll be a stuck up boring person-... turtle"

"T-thanks Winter" Donnie said happily with a blush and continued his work.

"Now explain to me how this entire thing works. It's obvious about how it works, but I like to hear people talk about it" Winter asked.

"Ok. When they receive a remote signal, they'll safely guide the shell to the signals point of origin"

"Fascinating" Donnie blushed a deeper red and laughed nervously. But unknown to them, Mikey was looking at the blueprint and then picked up a remote.

"And this is the remote doohickey?" Mikey asked.

"That's it, but it's not finished yet, so please don't-!" before Donnie could finish explaining, Mikey had pressed a button and started the van up.

"Uh, you were gonna tell me not to press this right?" Mikey said nervously.

Donnie grabbed Winter and jumped off the van as it sped off. Raph and Viola were at the punching bag, Viola teaching Raph a few tricks of her own, when the van came speeding their way.

"Look out!" Viola called out and tackled Raph out of the way just as the van smashed into punching bag.

The van then drove towards the living room where Splinter, Sara and Leo were. Leo was sitting in the chair reading a book while Splinter and Sara sat on the couch watching TV when the van was racing towards them.

"Yikes!" Leo shouted and ran towards Sara and Splinter, grabbed them both and moved them out of the way.

The van then started to drive back towards Donnie, Mikey and Winter; Mikey standing there, shaking to his very shell.

"Shake a leg shell for brain!" Donnie called out and the three of them jumped out of the way in time just as the van crashed into the wall.

"Donatello" Splinter spoke as he stood above Donnie, "Your battle shell is a marvel of engineering, a true testament to your incredible mechanical skills; and I never want to see it in our home again" Winter chuckled to herself as she stood up.

"What's going on? I heard crashing and screaming!" Phoebe questioned as she came running in from the kitchen.

"Mikey crashed the battle shell" Donnie informed.

"Hey, don't tell her I messed up" Mikey whispered.

"You did mess up, big time" Donnie said and then smacked Mikey against the head.

"I think we should take this party up top to the warehouse" Phoebe suggested.

The day soon left and night had come and the turtles and girls were still in the warehouse, relaxing.

"Have any of you heard from Casey yet?" Viola asked.

"Not since last night" Raph answered, "But he's probably trying to talk this girl out of joining the Purple Dragons"

"What girl?" Phoebe asked.

"Some girl that Casey knows from the neighborhood and promised to look out for" Leo answered.

"Why would she want to join the Purple Dragons?" Winter questioned.

"She was probably led astray from the right path for a while" Viola spoke out, "But with Casey over-protective stubbornness and upfront nature, she'll find her way back"

"You really have to explain why you talk like Splinter" Sara said.

"Raphael!" a voice called out, "Viola!"

"Who is that?" Viola questioned.

"Whoever they are, they certainly know about us" Raph said.

"Then we better greet our guest" Leo said.

They started up the van and lifted the garage doors and stepped out to see a young girl dressed in street clothes.

"Alright kid, this had better be good" Raph said.

After Angel had explained what had happened, they were all soon riding out towards the Purple Dragon's hideout.

"Ok, I knew Casey hung out with some weird dudes, but you guys are off the charts" Angel said.

"No way am I going out like this!" Raph objected as he looked down at his disguise, "Tell me people don't really dress this way?"

"It's a good look for you Raph" Mikey teased, "Kind of a hip hop, cat burglar, storm trooper thing"

"Don't laugh green boy, you're next" Angel said as she handed him a pair of clothes as well.

Mikey gave her a small look but started to get dressed anyway.

"Are you almost done?" Viola asked as Phoebe continued to use a makeup brush against her face.

"It takes hand-I-coordination to place makeup on when in a moving car" Phoebe said, "And I always wanted to make you up, but you're stubborn to let me do it"

"It's too bad I can't go in" Winter said, "If the Purple Dragons didn't recognize my face, then I'd be assisting you guys"

"Yeah, the Purple Dragons won't know who Viola is because her face was covered by her hair when she ran into them" Sara said and the girls laughed a little.

"We're almost there, so hurry and finish up" Donnie called out.

"You needn't waste your breath because I'm already done" Phoebe said as she put her makeup brushes away and then Viola around.

Everyone was completely surprised and in awe of how Viola looked. She had her bangs pinned back on the top of her head and her hair pulled back into a half-ponytail and she had black eyeliner around her eyes, dark red eye shadow and dark red lipstick.

"I feel like a clown" Viola said, trying her best not to touch her face since she wasn't used to wearing makeup.

"But you're a hot clown" Winter said and they the girls laughed again.

They soon made it to the Purple Dragons hideout and parked the van at the farther end of the street and walked from there.

"Just be cool and follow my lead" Angel instructed as she looked back at the four disguised turtles.

As they were walking past the guard, they used the three finger symbol to make their way in.

"Good thing it's only a three finger salute" Mikey said.

They soon made their way inside the crowd warehouse and to the back of the room near the bleachers.

"Yeesh, it's like we walked into an ugly convention" Mikey whispered.

"Hey, then you must feel right at home Mikey" Raph teased.

"Raph!" Viola snapped quietly, "Lay off!"

"What?" Raph questioned, wondering why she snapped like that. He saw that Viola was giving him a scolding glare, but he saw that there was something else in her eyes. She had turned away and just took a deep breath.

"Nothing" Viola said, leaning against the bleachers.

"Knock it off you guys" Donnie said, "I'm trying to blend here"

Donnie crossed his arms and placed on a tough guy aura and the other guys did the same.

"You really want to look like a Purple Dragon?" Raph spoke out, "Try getting your butt kicked by a ninja turtle"

"I'm down with that" Mikey laughed as he and Raph fist bumped.

"Ok guys, take note" Leo said as he stood in front of them, "We got exits there and there, guards posted around the perimeter, everyone's pretty heavily armed, so can we try to avoid a fight?" They all looked at each other before looking back at Leo. "Yeah, right, what was I thinking?"

The crowd cheered louder as a giant cage was lowered down onto the ring and a spotlight shined down on Hun in the ring.

"Tonight's cage match championship will determine which team will win the honor of ridding the Purple Dragons of a most hated enemy!" Casey was lowered down into the ring as he was locked down to a metal x shaped table.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring you along" Raph said to Viola.

"I'll be fine, I'll make sure that my back is to Hun at all times, none of the other Dragons know who I am" Viola said.

"Lousy thugs, I got your most hated enemy right here!" Raph said as he pulled out his sais from his pockets.

"Easy Raph" Leo said as he pushed his hands down, "Let's not blow our cover just yet"

"So who's ready to battle it out for a shot at the vigilante!" an announcer called out over the speaker as Hun left the cage.

"How are we gonna get him down from there?" Donnie questioned.

"I know how to get to the catwalk" Angel informed.

"Go with her" Leo said to Mikey and Donnie, "Nothing fancy, just stick to the shadows and cut him loose"

"And what are you three gonna do?" Mikey asked.

Leo looked up and saw that spotlight moving around, "We'll make sure that spotlight stays on the cage. Now go"

Angel, Donnie and Mikey soon left to get to the catwalk while Raph, Leo and Viola made their way towards the caged ring.

"Is this gonna work?" Raph questioned as the three of them climbed up to the ring.

"You know a better way to buy some time?" Leo said, "Besides, you need the practice"

"Muah?" Raph said and the three of them walked into the cage.

"Three new initiates have entered the competition!" the announcer called out and the Purple Dragons surrounded them, "Let's show them how Purple Dragons treat newbies!"

"Hey baby" a Purple Dragon called out, who had long hair tied back and the side of his head shaved and pulled Viola closer to him, "How about you join my team?" Viola glared up at him, then grabbed the front of his shirt and brought him down to slam her head into his and it knocked him out instantly.

"Whoa" Leo and Raph gasped in amazement.

"Ooohhh, that had to hurt! That little one is feisty!" the announcer laughed as the other Purple Dragons cheered.

The fight soon started and the Purple Dragons were all over the three, but they proved themselves that they were no newbies when it came to fighting. But Raph was getting too much into it and was knocking out every Purple Dragon he could get his hands on. Leo and Raph were soon back to back as they continued to fend off the Dragons.

"Ok Raph, maybe you're a little unclear on the whole concept of buying time!" Leo scolded, "We still gotta leave a few of them standing!" Leo had then knocked out a Purple Dragon with anger that matched Raphs.

"Oh, sorry" Raph said.

As the turtles continued to fend off the fighters, the crowd started to boo at them.

"Geez, I can barely move in this stuff" Leo complained as he picked at his disguise, "What is the deal with humans and clothes?"

"You ever seen a human in his skivvies?" Raph said, "Trust me, it ain't a pretty sight"

"When did you see a human in his... skivvies?" Viola questioned as she stood by the turtles.

"That's a story for another time" Raph was suddenly grabbed at by a big Purple Dragon and tossed around before he was slipped out of his disguise.

"Hey, it's one of them kung fu lizards!" a Purple Dragon called out.

"And it seems that they brought a special guest" Hun said as he finally saw Viola when she was kneeling in front of Raph.

"Turtles! TUR-tles!" Raph shouted irritatingly as he stood up and removed his a skewed sunglasses, "Don't any of you lamebrains know a turtle when you see one?"

"Well, it seems like they know who we are now" Viola said nervously as the crowd got louder and in a frenzy.

"Uh Raph" Leo called out, "I think the biology lesson is the least of our problems right now"

Hun had walked up to the caged ring and ripped the door right off its hinges and made his way towards the three.

"You" Hun growled as he stood off against Raph.

"What's the matter lard butt?" Raph questioned as he blocked one of Huns punches, "Still mad that we walked out of your little Q and A?"

Hun then grabbed Raph and slammed him against the bars, "In case you haven't figured it out reptile, that time I let you escape"

"Don't forget, you have to deal with me as well!" Viola shouted as she grabbed onto Huns ponytail and used shocking strength to toss him across the caged ring.

Just as the rest of the Purple Dragons were about to rush into the cage, Donnie and Mikey jumped down from the catwalk and landed in front of them.

"Sorry dudes, fan appreciation day is next week" Mikey said as he held onto his nunchakus.

The Purple Dragons charged at the turtles and they began their fight while the other turtles continued their fight within the ring.

Raph continued to fight Hun on his own, "Do me a favor and be a cooperative little mountain and just goo-!" Hun had then knocked Raph into the bars again, "Down"

Leo had his katanas drawn and he looked up at a metal bar that hung from the ceiling. He jumped up and sliced the support line of the bar and it came crashing down on Hun. But it only knocked him down for a second before he was back up on his feet and more angry than ever as he picked up the metal bar and tossed it into the two turtles.

Viola ran at him and was about to kick him, but he had turned around, grabbed onto her ankle just as her foot was barely an inch from him and slammed her into the other two.

"Looks like our bros could use a hand" Donnie said as he saw Hun approach the two fallen turtles.

Donnie and Mikey jumped in and knocked Hun hard into the bars.

"Don't look now, but Tiny still wants to dance" Mikey said.

Hun grabbed onto part of the cage and tore it apart, causing it to collapse onto the turtles and Viola. Hun made his way towards the five and stood behind of Leo, grabbing his swords and held them high to get ready to strike them down. But then he felt someone tap on his shoulder and he looked back to see Casey standing there with a bat in his fists. He swung hard and knocked Hun into the bleachers, but soon, the other Dragons were making their way towards them all.

"Take us out of here Donnie" Leo said.

"I have just what the doctor ordered" Donnie said as he pulled out the remote control and pressed a button.

"Oh taxi!" Mikey called out sarcastically.

A loud screeching noise came from outside and was getting closer until the battle shell came crashing through the garage doors.

"About time that thing busted somebody else's place for a change" Raph said as the battle shell stopped in front of them.

"Never do that again without giving a call first!" Winter shouted in irritation as she stuck her head out of the window.

Once the five of them hopped in the back, they drove by and picked Angel and Casey up as well and soon drove out of the place. They had soon made it to Angel's home and Casey walked her up to her apartment building and an elderly opened the door.

"Angel" the woman said in surprise, but relief.

"Grandma!" Angel said excitedly and hugged the woman.

"Told you I'd keep an eye on her" Casey said.

"Thank you Casey" the woman said as she hugged him, "Thank you for bringing back my Angel. Now, I got a pie fresh out of the oven and I insist you come inside and join us" Casey gave a thumbs up to the eight and was dragged inside the apartment.

"Pie!" Mikey said excitedly, "Yo Case, how's about introducing grandma to your friends?"

"Forget it Mikey, we're ninjas, we stick to the shadows" Raph said.

"The unseen heroes of the urban jungle" Leo said.

"The silent protectors of the way of Bushido" Donnie said.

"So what kind of pie do you think it is?" Mikey asked, but then was slapped against his head, "Ow! What?"

"You goofball" Phoebe laughed as she pulled Mikey into a loose headlock, "How about I bake you guys a pie as a job well done tonight?"

"You the best of the best!" Mikey said excitedly and hugged Phoebe while they all laughed.

"Hey" Raph called out to Viola and she looked at him, "I think you look pretty good"

Viola gave a smile that almost made it look like a smirk if a small blush wasn't covering her face.

"Thanks" Viola said and bumped her shoulder against Raphs.

They soon piled into the battle shell and drove off back home.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok, like I said, I'm only going to put in the episodes that will fit the story, so I'm going to probably skip a few of the important episodes.**

It's been a few days since the turtle's first encounter with the Shredder and the turtles and girls were at April's apartment resting a little and having a small dinner. Casey soon came in and saw the turtles and girls at the table.

"Hey, how come I wasn't called that everyone was here?" Casey questioned as he came over to the table where everyone was.

"We'd thought we enjoy an evening in peace" Raph said.

"In fact, how'd you know that everyone was here?" April asked.

"Viola called me" Casey informed, then put Viola in a small headlock and ruffled her hair, "At least she had the decency to invite me over"

"I thought it was kind of rude to leave him out" Viola said as she pulled out of the headlock and smoothed her hair out.

"Ahh Viola, always thinking of others" Phoebe playfully teased.

"So, how was that science test you said you had a hard time studying on?" Casey asked as he started to eat some of the dinner.

"I think I did alright, probably enough to pass" Viola said.

"Alright, that's my girl!" Casey said as he patted Viola on the shoulder a little too hard, but didn't seem to notice.

"It's kind of cute how your relationship is with Viola" April said with a small laugh.

"Yeah, she may have this whole dark look going on, but she's like the little sister that I never had" Casey said.

Viola stopped mid air with her glass and tensed, but no one seemed to noticed.

"Now that you mention it, she does have this little sister thing going on" April said.

Viola was gripping her glass so tight that she broke it and it startled everyone.

"A-April, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened!" Viola apologized as she started to pick up the pieces of glass.

"Forget about that; are you hurt? Did you cut yourself?" April asked as she looked at Viola's hand.

Viola suddenly yanked her hand away and she started to back away.

"I-I better go" Viola said and left the apartment.

"What was that about?" Sara questioned as she cleaned up the broken mess.

"I don't know; do you have any idea Phoebe?" Winter asked.

"No, I've never seen her fumble like that, she's always so calm and collected" Phoebe said.

"I'm worried, maybe we should go after her" April suggested.

"No, maybe we should give her some space, let her think and breath" Phoebe advised.

But that was over a week ago and no one has heard for Viola since then, the girls didn't see her at school and she wasn't at her apartment and everyone was searching for her, even Splinter. But then Phoebe got a message from Viola, saying to gather everyone and meet her at April's apartment.

Everyone was waiting impatiently for Viola to arrive, then after some time, there was a knock at the door and April hurried to answer it. Everyone was glad to see that it was Viola and gathered around her; then Winter suddenly smacked her in the back of her head.

"What's wrong with you?" Winter shouted, "If you wanted some time alone, you should have told us_; _do you know how worried we were?"

Viola rubbed her head and looked up at everyone with a guilty look, "I-I'm sorry everyone, for leaving without saying anything"

"But why did you disappear?" Phoebe asked.

Viola tried to say something, but she couldn't get the words out, then Splinter grabbed her hand and lead her to the coach.

"You would probably feel better if you let out what burden you hold, we'll help you" Splinter said.

Viola sat on the coach and everyone gathered around her.

"I-I guess I should tell you guys… I-I have a younger identical twin sister, Vanessa and when me and her were just babies, our parents died"

Everyone was shocked to hear that.

"We were taken in by my aunt…who lives in Japan... a-and is the a leader of a kunoichi clan"

"A kunoichi clan!" everyone exclaimed, maybe that explained why she was at the level as the turtles.

"Yeah, me and my sister were trained and we became stronger… but one day… when we were 8, we got into a fight with… The Shredder"

Everyone gasped, they couldn't believe that Viola encountered the Shredder; Raph now knew why she was taken with him to the boat.

"During the fight, the building caught on fire and it was starting to collapse… but while we were running to the exit, the front doors were starting to collapse, we knew that we weren't going to make it. But then Vanessa just threw me out first and the building just fell completely"

Viola gripped onto her arms and tried her best not to cry.

"I'm sorry for your lost" Splinter said.

"Man, another reason to take the Shredder down!" Raph growled, wanting to throw a tantrum.

"Don't put me as a reason" Viola said.

"But Viola-"

"But nothing Leo" Viola interrupted, "I didn't even bother to go after him for revenge, it won't bring my sister back… I came back to America because everywhere I went, I would see Vanessa and it was becoming overbearing for me, I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror since we're identical and I'm always reminded of her. Maybe if I came here, I can try and get used to being alone"

"But you have us, you're not alone" Phoebe said, gripping onto Viola's hand.

"I know, but my aunt couldn't bear children, and when she passes, Vanessa would have been my only family and I would have to go back to Japan because the first born female must inherit the clan"

Everyone was quiet for a bit, they felt so bad that Viola was left all alone, not having anyone to know how you felt without having to ask or to have such a connection.

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened, but you must not live in the past" Splinter said, "You must think of the future and even if you say that you don't want to take revenge against your sister, you must help in defeating the Shredder, you could help by preventing him from taking other lives of loved ones. Though you couldn't save your sister, you can save others from the Shredders wrath, do it for your sister, for you still have her spirit within you"

Viola looked at him for a while before she nodded, then Phoebe gave her a hug and everyone else gave her a pat or rub on the shoulder to try and comfort her, she didn't cry through any of it, but she suddenly gave a very small puff of laughter.

"I'm glad to have you as a friend despite the rough start" Viola said as she pulled out of the hug.

"What're you talking about rough start?" Mikey asked.

"A few days after I saved Phoebe from the Purple Dragons, we met again in school and she was very persistent on wanting to be my friend, but after losing Vanessa, I became distant from everyone" Viola explained, then she tucked her bangs behind her ear and smiled Phoebe, "But she helped cheer me up and I almost couldn't leave her, I never had any friends back at Japan, so she was my first friend ever and I appreciate every day I spend with her and you guys"

"I'm glad to have you as a friend too" Phoebe said and they hugged again.

Soon everyone decided to have a small party since Viola was back, Mikey even pushed Raph into dancing with Viola and it was real fun.

**Ok, I know that in **_**The Shredder Strikes Back **_**everyone was shocked to know that the Shredder was alive, but I wanted Splinter to try and encourage Viola and I wanted the turtles to know what her background was too.**


	9. The Unconvincing Turtle Titan

Phoebe was hanging out at April's shop, looking out some of the new accessories and clothes there, when Mikey had came by.

"Oh, hey Mikey" April greeted.

"Whatcha doing here?" Phoebe asked.

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor" Mikey asked.

"What would that be?" April asked.

"I was out patrolling the city for crimes and when I stopped a purse snatcher and gave the purse back to the lady, she hit me with her bag and ran"

"You exposed yourself to someone?" Phoebe questioned.

"Yeah, because I want to be a superhero and help people out in the open; so then it dawned on me, if you want to act like a superhero, you got to look like a superhero" Mikey finished.

He looked at the notebook he was holding and then handed it to April. April opened up the book up and she and Phoebe looked at the drawing of him and his brothers in superhero suits.

"Pretty lame huh?" Mikey said sadly.

"No, not at all" April said, "I think you should follow your dream"

"You do?" Mikey said, happy again.

"Yeah, totally" Phoebe agreed, "But what would make you think that it was lame before?"

"My brothers' thought it was a stupid idea to be a superhero and save people for the greater good" Mikey informed.

"Well how about I add black and blue to their green?" Phoebe said a little threateningly.

Mikey laughed a little, "Thanks Phoebs"

"I don't see why they would laugh at you in the first place; what you guys do every night is like you're already superheroes, just without the powers. There are people everyday out there rescuing others without the need for powers and you're the same as them, wanting to help protect people, you're already a hero just thinking about stuff like that"

"She's absolutely right, we just got to find the right look for you" April said.

Mikey was behind a changing screen, trying on an outfit with April and Phoebe leaning against the front counter as Mikey stepped out in medieval armor.

"Why Michelangelo, you are my knight in shining armor" Phoebe said in a southern accent and laughed.

"Nah, too cumbersome" April said.

Mikey then placed on a cape, vest and top hat.

"You certainly put a spell on me" Phoebe joked.

"Too formal" April said.

Mikey then put on a red sweatshirt with a lightning bolt and a ski mask.

"Too mugger" April said.

"I fear that you might attack me rather than save me" Phoebe said grimly.

Mikey then went back behind the screen and kept trying on outfits.

"Hang on, I think I got it!" Mikey said as he continued to toss clothes around, "Introducing Turtle Titan!" Mikey stepped out and wore a long red cape with a hood that covered his face, brown boots and had his grappling hooks hooked to his belt.

"Hmm, not bad" April said.

"Dibs on being his first fan!" Phoebe called out and laughed again.

"Alright, I'm heading out now" Mikey said as he was making his way towards the door.

"Just be careful" Phoebe called out and he soon left, then she turned to April, "What do you think he'll get himself into?"

"I don't know, but with the guys, trouble will always follow them" April said.

"I can't help but feel that Mikey will be accused of being a villain rather than a superhero; let's just hope it doesn't come to that"

Later on that night, the turtles had finished up their training for the night and the girls had came over to hang out, and it was obvious that Phoebe was giving them a scolding.

"I can't believe you guys would make fun of Mikey wanting to be a superhero when you guys practically do the same thing every night" Phoebe scolded, then she walked over to stand between Sara and Leo, Sara sitting on the couch and Leo in the chair, "I mean, Leo, you are Sara's hero"

"Hey!" Sara called out and smacked Phoebe against her thigh.

"Ow!" Phoebe cried out, but it didn't seem to hurt her as much, "I'm not five, don't spank me"

"I'm gonna have to agree with Phoebe on this one" Winter spoke, "I admire Mikey for wanting to protect people in the open rather than the shadows, he just wants to be a part of society and seen as a hero like most people are"

"But we've been training for fifteen years about working in the shadows" Donnie said.

"And look at you now, you have six human friends"

A noise had echoed out in the room and everyone looked to see Mikey coming into the room.

"What do you know, its super Mikey" Raph teased.

"Returning to his secret turtle cave headquarters" Donnie added.

"How's life in the funny books?" Leo added as well.

The girls rolled their eyes at the turtle's mockery. Mikey walked over into the living room and sat on the couch and turned the TV on to the news.

"At a Brooklyn warehouse, where the Silver Century had defeated and captured the criminal master mind known as Dr. Malignus. Any comment on the incident Silver Century?" the report asked.

"I just want to say I couldn't have done it without the help of my new friend and ally, Turtle Titan" Silver Century said.

Mikey then turned off the TV and the other turtles were a bit shocked while the girls looked proud of Mikey and a look that was smug to the other turtles.

"Mikey, was that you the Silver Century was talking about?" Leo asked.

Mikey stood up and faced his brothers, "I'm a turtle, not a titan. So, who's ready to get back to training?"

"You're really my hero Mikey" Phoebe said with a smile and gave a kiss on his cheek and he smiled brightly with a blush.


	10. Notes from the Underground Part 1

Winter and Phoebe decided to come over for a visit, Mikey was in the middle of his movie that he didn't noticed that Phoebe was right behind him.

"There are some things man were never meant to tamper with" Mikey imitated the man in the horror movie, but then it changed to a commercial about a man doing crazy things to sell cars.

"I hate that commercial!" Phoebe shouted, causing Mikey to scream.

Mikey turned around and saw Phoebe looking at him with a smile, he blushed because of how he screamed and he turned the TV off.

"What're you doing here?" Mikey asked, though he was very happy to have her here.

"Winter was interested in the crystals that Donnie told her about and I wanted to come along" Phoebe told, looking over at Donnie's station where Donnie and Winter were.

"So how far have you gotten with the crystals?" Winter asked as Donnie observed one of the crystals.

"Just trying to classify them, but I can't find anything like them in the books" Donnie answered, "The microscopic crystal structure's are linked, almost like mutated brain cells"

"Ohhweeohh!" Mikey said from behind of the two with Phoebe beside him, laughing.

"I beg your pardon?" Donnie asked.

"Late night monster movies" Mikey said as he grabbed the lamp and faced it towards him, "Perhaps there are some things man were never meant to tamper with" Mikey then grabbed the crystals, "Nothing says a turtle can't tamper though"

Mikey suddenly touched the crystals together and they started to glow and make a humming noise.

"Whoa" Winter gasped.

"Donatello, what is it?" Splinter questioned as he came out and made his way towards the four, "What is happening?"

"What's with the noise?" Raph asked.

"I'm not quite sure" Donnie said.

Donnie then grabbed one of the crystals and the noise and glowing stopped.

"Are we in any danger Donatello?" Splinter asked.

"Maybe the harmonics of the energy signature of the crystalline structure?" Donnie said.

"You don't know do you?" Raph questioned.

"Not a clue"

"I started to whole thing" Mikey said.

Alarms started to sound throughout the lair.

"Now what is it?" Leo questioned.

"Something tripped the perimeter alarm in one of the old subway tunnels" Donnie said.

Everyone started to gather around the computers to see what was on the surveillance camera, then something whizzed past the screen.

"What in the?" Leo questioned.

"Sewer rats are getting bigger" Raph said as he took his sais out.

"Yeah, time to cut the cheese" Mikey said and Leo face palmed himself while Phoebe covered her mouth to keep her laughter quiet, "That's not what I meant"

"Let's roll" Leo said.

The turtles were soon rushing out and Winter and Phoebe tried to follow, but were stopped by Splinter.

"It is too dangerous, it would be best if you stayed here"

"Aw man" Phoebe whined a little.

"Well, then let's just go home them Phoebe, we'll come back tomorrow" Winter suggested, then she and Phoebe left through the elevator.

"We're not really heading home are we?" Phoebe asked as they made it to the top.

"You think we'll let the guys have all the fun" Winter said with a smirk and she and Phoebe high fived.

The turtles were using the Sewer Slider to get through the tunnels quicker.

"Let's not announce ourselves, switch to stealth mode!" Leo advised.

Donnie pushed a lever and the Sewer Slider was a lot quieter; they stopped when they finally came to their destination and walked farther into the sewers to look around.

"Nothing" Raph said.

"Don't be too sure" Donnie said as he aimed his flashlight at the ceiling to show claw marks, "This is odd"

"What've you got?" Leo asked.

Donnie continued to follow the trail of the marks and it showed a tunnel in the wall, "Some kind of weird tracks, melted right into the stone"

The turtles gathered around the hole and looked into it.

"Whatever it was, it tunneled right through the cement" Raph said.

Donnie handed Raph the flashlight and he searched through his bag and pulled out a hammer and bag.

"Looks like the molecules have become unbonded" Donnie said as he tore off a chunk from the wall, "Maybe some kind of catalyst or an acid?"

"Ok, this is the part in the monster movie where the first attack happens" Mikey freaked out, "The first guy never makes it, need I say more!"

"Just calm down Mikey till we find out what this is" Leo advised, then turned to Donnie, "What is this?"

"Another mystery, one thing's for sure though"

"I've never seen anything like it" Mikey imitated Donnie.

"That's it, I'm out of here!" Mikey shouted as he ran for the Sewer Slider and twirled his nunchakus in defense.

"What do you get when you cross a turtle and a chicken…Mikey" Raph taunted.

"I need to get back anyway, to analyze this and find out just what we're dealing with" Donnie said.

The turtles soon went home and Donnie started to observe the stone he collected.

"Hmm" Donnie hummed when he poured acid on it and it was still the same.

"Was that a good hmm or bad hmm?" Mikey asked nervously, "Cause this is the part in the movie where we should be looking for the monsters one weakness or we can kiss our shells goodbye! Trust me, we don't want to underestimate a monster!"

Raph stepped forward and splash water in Mikey's face to get him to stop.

"Thanks" Mikey said.

"What can you tell us Donatello?" Splinter asked.

"It looks like that creature melted right through the stone, being able to liquefy stone is the perfect ability for a subterranean life form" Donnie said.

"I am hearing answers that raise more questions; a wise strategist gathers all his information before deciding on a course of action" Spinter said.

"Anybody up for a fact finding mission?" Leo suggested.

"If something's out there looking for us, I say we find it first" Raph said.

"All in favor, say I"

Everyone said I, but Mikey made a noise and Leo took it for an 'I'.

"Good luck my sons, may you return safely" Splinter said.

"Yes my brothers, good luck to you" Mikey said in Splinters voice.

Raph grabbed Mikey and everyone was grabbing the necessities for their trip and soon made it back to the hole and Leo and Donnie went in.

"After you" Mikey said to Raph.

Raph went in next and Mikey tried to sneak away, but Raph grabbed him and pulled him in; they soon made it to the exit and they were in an abandoned train way.

"What is this place?" Raph questioned.

"There's a whole network of abandoned subway tunnels from the early nineteen hundreds down here" Donnie answered.

"Abandoned? Right" Mikey scoffed.

"Hear that creaking?" Donnie said and pointed his flashlight at the ceiling, "These old supports should've given out long ago, I suggest we all be really, really quiet"

The turtles were starting to look around to see if they could find anything that could help them.

"Any signs of the creatures tracks?" Leo asked, nobody said anything, then Leo pointed his flashlight at the ground and found a claw print, "Guys"

"Nope, nothing, let's go home" Mikey said quickly.

His brothers ignored him and followed the tracks, but then the tunnel started to rumble and the turtles were getting worried.

"Shh, everyone be still!" Leo said.

The dust falling was tickling Mikey's nose and he was about to sneeze, but Raph covered his mouth to stop him.

"Not a sound, got it" Raph warned.

"I got it" Mikey said with his mouth covered.

His brothers were starting to continue, but the dust was still falling and Mikey sneezed real loud and the tunnel was starting to rumble.

"Mikey, for crying out loud, next time, bring an antihistamine!" Raph scolded.

"Hey, how am I suppose to stop a-a huge grotesque and frankly quiet horrifying monster!" Mikey shouted when he saw a large monster come up from behind his brothers.

The brothers looked back and saw a huge rock-like monster roar at them very loudly and it was making the support collapse. The turtles were soon making a run for it as it continued to fall, but it was falling faster than expected, they made it to an exit, but the structure collapsed right behind them and it cause them to fall and their flashlights go out.

"This just gets better and better!" Raph complained.

"Just a sec" Donnie said, then he grabbed the crystals and touched them together, making it brighter.

"You think that thing survived?" Raph questioned.

"Know your monsters Raph, it can melt rock!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Yeah, maybe I forgot because I was trying not to get buried in collapsing subway tunnel!" Raph shouted very loudly.

"Everybody calm down!" Leo exclaimed, "Let's keep moving"

Donnie lead the others through the tunnel and they came upon more tracks that lead off a ledge deeper down. Donnie handed Mikey the crystal, then he reached into his bag and pulled out a length of rope and tied it to a rock. The turtles then started to climb down until they got to the bottom.

"I'm beat" Donnie groaned as he leaned against the rock wall.

"Even my backache gots a backache" Mikey groaned as well.

"Let's make camp" Leo said, then turned to Raph, "You up for first watch?"

Raph leaped forwards and twirled his sais, "You know me"

The crystals were kept together to keep the light on while everyone slept, but Raph was starting to doze off. But then he started to hear growling and the cavern was starting to rumble around.

"Guys wake up, Mikey rise and shine!" Raph called out and he took a stance, "Everybody up, we're under attack, our friend is back!"

"So running would be good, right?" Mikey asked.

Leo looked up and saw something pushing a large boulder down at them.

"RUN!" Leo shouted.

The turtles started to make a run for it as the boulder rolled in right behind them, as they continued to run, they came to an opening, but the bridge that connected to another opening was broken.

"Ah great, the bridge is out" Raph said.

"Now what do we do?" Mikey questioned.

Raph pulled out a grappling hook and twirled it around.

"Hurry Raph!" Donnie exclaimed when he saw that the boulder was getting closer.

Raph then threw the grappling hook across and hooked it to a rock.

"Grab on!" Raph shouted.

The turtles grabbed the rope, then they swung across the gap.

"COWABUNGAAA!" Mikey exclaimed as they jumped.

The boulder barely missed them and crashed down as the turtles dangled.

"Mikey, I told you no more cowabunga" Raph said as he began to climb the rope, but it was starting to loosen, "We're slipping!"

"Now what?" Mikey questioned.

"Crack the whip, on my signal!" Raph said, "One, two, three!"

The turtles bounced off the wall and they managed to get to the top just as the rope fell.

"I like a little excitement first thing in the morning" Mikey said.

"How're we gonna get back with those things playing bowling for turtles?" Raph questioned.

"Look at this" Donnie called out.

The turtles turned to see metal doors that looked to have been pried open and there was a lab inside.

"Not to make things were, but you'll notice that the doors were forced open from the inside, something was trying to get out" Donnie explained.

"Oh that doesn't make things worse, it makes things horrifying!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Shh" Leo hushed.

The turtles made their way inside and began to look around, the place was a wreck.

"Anybody got a clue what this place is?" Raph whispered.

"You want a wild guess?" Mikey said.

"No"

As the turtles searched the place, there was a sound of glass breaking and the turtles drew their weapons and looked to see where the noise came from. They looked to see a metal storage cabinet, they stepped closer to it; Leo reached forward, grabbed the handle and threw the door open. Whatever was inside, it jumped out and tackled Donnie.

"Winter?!" the turtles exclaimed.

Winter looked at the others and sighed in relief.

"Guys!"

The turtles turned to see Phoebe as well and she rushed and hugged Mikey, which made him blush.

"This brings back memories, huh?" Winter said with a small laugh, indicating the night that they met since she was on top of him again.

Winter got off of Donnie and helped him up.

"What are you doing here, we thought you went back home?" Mikey asked.

"Where it was safe" Donnie said, crossing him arms and gave them a look.

"We wanted to find out what was on the monitor and what made those tracks" Phoebe said.

"We were going to leave this place, but then those things were coming around, and we were trapped" Winter said.

"But we're glad you guys came when you were needed" Phoebe said with a smile.

Donnie was starting to look at some of the devices that were around the lab.

"I'm seeing devises related to physiology, biology, genome analysis, my guess, this is a genetics lab" Donnie explained, "They were experimenting mutation"

"Ohhweeohh!" Mikey exclaimed.

His brothers groaned and Mikey staggered backwards and he must have triggered an alarm because the doors were shut and the crystal that was in some machine started to glow.

"What the shell is that?" Mikey yelled.

The crystal kept flickering and some kind of shield was starting to expand.

"Looks like some kind of force field!" Donnie exclaimed.

Raph took his sais out and jumped at the force field and stabbed it, but it caught his sais and it continued to expand until it consumed his sai.

"What now?" Raph questioned.

"Something's telling me 'do not touch'" Mikey said.

"Gee, you think?"

The field continued to grow and grow and as they were backing up, Donnie fell, but Winter helped him up and she pushed against the field.

"Looks like this energy field only affects living tissue!" Donnie said as he tried to push on the field as well.

"Too bad that's exactly what we're made of!" Raph said as they were all backed up to the fall.

"We'll it's not going to be a problem for us much long because we won't have _living _tissues if this thing keeps getting bigger!" Phoebe shouted.

"Donnie, what do we do?" Leo asked as he was backed up to the wall as the others.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Donnie said.

"Well, think faster or we're gonna be a whole lot thinner" Mikey groaned as he was pressed to the wall by the shield.

Donnie then looked up at the crystal, "The crystal, it's somehow powering all of this; Raph, your sai can go through the field, aim for the crystal!"

Raph reached for his sai, then he threw it and it stabbed the machine, it started to flicker and spark and the field finally disappeared and the doors opened.

"Nice shot" Phoebe sighed.

"Close one" Donnie said.

"And that's the end of that" Raph said.

"You can say that again" Winter said.

"It's only that beginning, look at this" Donnie said.

Everyone gathered around a monitor that was frizzing before it showed an image-a Foot symbol.

"It's the sign of the Foot!" Donnie gasped.

"Every time we hit trouble, that Foot symbol's stamp right on it; what is it this time?" Raph questioned with frustration.

"Let's find out" Leo said.

Donnie went to one of the control panels and press a few buttons.

"These look like some kind of archived video logs" Donnie said.

"Well click a vid and pop it on screen" Winter said.

Donnie pressed a few buttons and one of the videos popped up.

"Day 1: Project commences" a scientist spoke on the screen, "Master Shredder believes his enemies have taken refuge underground. Our Foot soldiers have been unable to locate them, so the genetic division has been directed to mutate human subjects, so that they can explore deeper into the earth"

The video showed a man on the screen strapped to a table and he looked so afraid, a strap connected to his arm and some green fluids were starting to enter his system.

"No, please!" the man pleaded.

"The subject appears to be in 'some' discomfort, but this is a minor annoyance" the scientist said.

The man started to scream and began to mutate into a monster.

"That poor guy" Leo said.

"This is starting to get weird" Mikey said.

"Starting?" Raph questioned.

"Day 345, the experiment appears to be a success, though the subjects are exhibiting reduced intelligence" the scientist informed as it showed three of the monsters in the canisters, then the video changed, "Day 545, the creatures are showing signs of instability, becoming angry and vicious, certain aspects of the experiment have gone horribly wrong! Have we attempted too much in developing this unnatural life form?!Perhaps there are some things"

"Man was never meant to tamper with" Mikey said with the scientist with a worried look, "That's the one line in a monster movie you don't wanna hear!"

"Shh, the logs are still taping" Winter said, she was captivated by the video and the experiments.

Something was shown on the screen and a hole was melted through the rock by this green slime, "Through the generous use of shock restraints, the creatures have been trained to retrieve evidence from their explorations" the scientist said, the video changed and the people were cheering, "Day 699, the project is a success, our creatures have found evidence of habitation underground, which has been turned over to Master Shredder, I've been told he's quite pleased"

The video changed and the scientist looked disappointed, "Day 733, the settlement we found is not what Master Shredder was searching for, he has pronounced the project: a failure; we've been ordered to shut down the operation, and destroy the creatures" the video change and it looked like there was a riot going on, "The creatures have freed themselves, they are more intelligent than we ever dreamed!" the video frizzed and then the scientist appeared to be beaten up, "They.. They have been manipulating us all along waiting for their moment to escape" the scientist looked to see one of the creatures coming at him, "No, no, keep away!"

The sounds of the scientist screaming were all that was left when the video ended; then there was a growl and everyone looked towards the exit; Mikey unconsciously clinged onto Phoebe.

"So there's always one guy in the monster movie who freaks out 'cuz he can't take the pressure and I'm gonna do an impression right now and it goes something like get me out of here!" Mikey shouted and he ran as he pulled Phoebe with him.

"Not that I'd ever agree with him, but he's got a point" Raph said.

"Agreed, fun's over, let's go" Leo said and they all started to chase after Mikey and Phoebe.

But as they left the lab and were about to leave when the cavern started to rumble and they saw that the rock wall was starting to melt. When it was completely melted, three of the monsters that were shown on the video came out and started to corner them.

"Guys" Mikey said as he and his brothers drew their weapons, "This isn't the end of the movie, is it?"


	11. Notes from the Underground Part 2

**Author's Note: Ok, I'm gonna make a poll because I have a few story ideas for the 2012 TMNT and I can't decide which one I want to start on first, so I decided to let you guys vote on which one I should start on; I'll leave the poll up for only a week, but it'll take some time before I actually post the story up because I have to work the plot out, so cast your vote, I can't wait which story you guys vote the most for, I'll have fun writing it!**

The turtles and girls were backing up as the mutant monsters were starting to close in on them.

"Uh, I think I speak for all of us when I say, Zoinks!" Mikey exclaimed.

They were all soon backed up back into the lab, then the blue monster spit some kind of green acid from his mouth and it barely missed the turtles, then they drew their weapons and took a stance.

"Ok, you guys take the three on the left" Mikey said.

"There are only three" Raph pointed out.

"There's one for each other you and I'll just be odd turtle out"

"You telling me"

"I'll keep the girls safe while you're busy"

The red mutant used his tail to throw a station at them, but they managed to dodge it. The turtles went into battle with the monsters, but Mikey stayed out of it. Donnie was fighting the red monster, but was having a hard time taking the mutant down, then it grabbed him and threw him across the room. Raph was fighting the big stone monster while Leo fought the blue monster.

The blue monster grabbed Leo, then threw him into a pole; Leo got back up and the blue mutant had acid drooling from his mouth as he got closer. Leo sliced a piece of the pole out and threw it at the blue monster, but he only shot acid at it, melting it in mid-air. The red mutant was cornering Donnie, who was on the ground, but Raph jumped in and kicked him away, but they looked up to see the stone monster climbing up the wall and ceiling. Then he started to chew through the ceiling and the brothers could see where the monster was heading and he was right above Mikey.

"Mikey!" Raph called out, then ran over to him and kicked the stone monster before he landed on Mikey, "Watch your back oddball!"

"You just called me odd, didn't you?" Mikey said, then Raph was tackled by the stone monster, "I'm not odd, I'm eccentric" Donnie was thrown near Mikey's feet and he helped him up, "Raph thinks I'm odd"

"You're just being sensitive" Donnie said, then went back into battle.

"Sensitive? If there's one thing I hate, it's when people call me sensitive!"

"Are you really gonna whine in front of your girlfriend?" Raph whispered to Mikey and they looked over to see the girls peeking over the control panels.

Leo was riding on a gurney and he jumped off it as he aimed it at the blue monster and it crashed into him and knocked him into a control box, shocking him. Leo charged at the monster, but then he spit acid at him and Leo ducked for cover, then the monster continued to spit acid at him and it caught onto the canister.

"You will take no more of us!" the monster growled.

"We're not here to take anybody!" Leo said.

The canister began to crack and break, then it started to fall and the monster was caught in the path. Leo ran and pushed the mutant out of the way.

"Why have you attacked us?" Leo questioned.

The blue mutant looked at him, then the red mutant came in and punched Leo across the room, then he landed on top of Mikey.

"You know something Mikey, they're thinking we're somebody else" Leo informed.

"Ah man, that's just great, we're getting our shells kicked in someone else's fight?" Mikey said.

Winter, Phoebe, Raph and Donnie soon gathered together with Leo and Mikey.

"Then I vote we get the shell out of here" Donnie said.

"Running away? That ain't my style" Raph said.

"Call it a tactical retreat, let's move" Leo said.

"We're leaving" Donnie said and pressed the panel button, opening the door behind them.

They all started to run, but Raph stayed behind for a bit, the monsters growled and started to charge at him.

"Tactical retreat, I can live with that" Raph said and started to chase after his brothers and the girls.

They soon came to a different room and they ran to the next door, but it wouldn't open, leaving them trapped.

"It's sealed tight" Donnie said.

The turtles and girls looked down to see the monsters closing in on them, then they ran for the door and started to close it, then sealed it shut, but the monster started to put dents into it.

"Somebody gonna answer that?" Mikey said.

"I don't think we want guests at the moment" Phoebe said.

The monster continued to bash on the door before it was thrown across the room and the red monster came in. Then the stone monster came out the floor from behind of them and they cornered the turtles and girls.

"No!" the blue monster shouted as he came in.

The blue monster came in and stood in front of the turtles and girls.

"Say the word bro" Raph said.

"Easy guys, it's ok" Leo said.

The blue monster came forward and sniffed Leo, "Who are you?"

"Not who you think we are" Leo said.

"Then why do you carry those?" the blue mutant questioned, pointing to Donnie's bag.

Donnie barely opened his bag to reveal the crystals and the monster started to get worked up.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Leo said, "We found these crystals in a cavern we're staying, that's all"

"Yeah, and just what business's of yours anyway" Raph said, then Phoebe elbowed him.

"Raph, they're obviously scared by them, so lay off!" Phoebe scolded.

"Those crystals are the embodiment of evil!" the mutant hissed, "Why have you come here?"

"Cause one of you ogres went sniffing around our place looking for trouble, so we're here to-"

Donnie covered Mikey's mouth before he said anything else, "To just look for some answers, that's all"

"I'm Leonardo and these are my brothers and friends, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, Winter and Phoebe"

"We were drawn to your habitat when your crystals were activated" the blue mutant said.

"Gee, wonder who could have done that?" Donnie said as he looked at Mikey.

"Their energy is a sign of danger to us, so we could consider you dangerous, though we usually sense them coming from deeper below"

"Below? You mean there are more of these crystals down there?" Donnie questioned.

"Exactly how far does this cavern go?" Winter asked.

"We just want to find out where they came from, that's all and maybe-"

"No, it is a forbidden place!" the blue mutant hissed and Donnie backed up, "Something unspeakable dwells there amidst the crystals, there are some things man were never meant to tamper with"

Mikey tried to make that creep noise, but Donnie covered his mouth.

"How many times are we going to hear this?" Winter whispered to Phoebe.

"He is an odd one" the blue mutant said.

They all soon went back into the lab.

"I don't trust these guys" Mikey whispered to the others.

"Why?" Raph asked.

"Try the fact that they're monsters"

"Yeah, well to some people so are we" Donnie said.

"It's kind of ironic that a mutant is scared of a mutant" Winter said.

"Well, not all of them are peace loving turtles like us" Donnie said, trying to be smooth but his brothers rolled their eyes.

"I can't believe Shredder had you genetically altered as diggers just to search down here for some enemy" Leo said.

"Yes, and he did so without remorse, we were forced against our will to do his bidding!" the blue mutant hissed.

"He just snatched you at random?" Leo asked, "From where?"

"The streets, our offices, our homes, anywhere a shadow can conceal a Foot soldier; we don't know why we were chosen"

"What's your name?"

"I am Quarry of tunnel squad 3, the others are Stonebiter and Razorfist"

"No, not what the Foot called you, your real name"

Quarry tried to say something, but he gripped his head and shook it a little.

"My memory is…the experiments performed on us stripped us of who we are"

"Yes, we saw the video log entries"

"Well don't worry about Shredder, he got his do" Raph said.

"Yeah, he made the mistake of messing with the ninja turtles, there's a lesson to be learned in that, if you know what I mean" Mikey said.

The alarms were suddenly being sounded and a screen popped up, showing some kind of map and a section was beeping.

"Oh no, the others, they tripped the alarm in the east delta tunnel!" Quarry gasped, then turned to the control panel, "Hurry, we must activate the energy shield!" Quarry pressed the buttons on the panel, but the crystal wasn't working. "No, No!" Quarry paniced as he kept trying.

"Don't do a no no, I hate no no's!" Mikey said.

"Well we got a no no" Winter said.

"It's no good, the shield will not activate, we have no power, no force field, and they're heading this way" Quarry said.

"Uh, yeah, we kind of met your force field" Raph said.

"And Raph kind of broke it" Mikey added.

There was a roaring down the corridor.

"What is out there?" Leo asked.

"The others" Quarry said as he looked over the panel.

"Other what?"

"Test subjects, like us, they endlessly prowl the tunnels"

"Why do you have to keep them out?"

"Because they attack us" Quarry said as he ripped open the panel and grabbed some wires, "They're violent, uncontrollable, their minds have deteriorated"

"From the genetic mutation?"

"Yes"

"Then what about you three?"

"Madness looms in our future as well"

There was another roar and it was getting closer; Quarry started to 'hot wire' the controls and the panels started to light up; the crystal was glowing for a few seconds, but then stopped.

"The crystal is completely burned out, it is hopeless"

Another roar emitted and the turtles drew their weapons to prepare to fight.

"Weapons will do no good, without the force field, we won't stand a chance against them" Quarry said, "They'll be on us in minutes"

"You know, you're kind of freaking me out here, are you always such a nay sayer?"

"Is there any way we can hold them off until we can find a way to start up the shield?" Phoebe questioned.

Donnie jumped up to the crystal and removed it, then it crumbled to pieces.

"Is that what the crystals are, power sources?" Donnie asked.

"Yes, but that was our only one, and when we found it in the catacombs, we paid dearly for it" Quarry said.

"Well, what about one of ours?" Leo questioned, pulling out a crystal from the satchel.

"They're too small, it would not last"

"It only has to last until they give up and move on" Donnie said as he placed the crystal in the machine, but it wasn't working, "Come on!"

The roars were getting closer by the second and everyone was getting worried; Razorfist, Stonebiter and Raph ran to the doors and started to pull the doors close.

"There is no spark" Quarry said as he attempted to start the shield up.

Donnie used the second crystal and kept tapping it with the other.

"For some reason it just won't power up, maybe the connections to these contact nods were chard" Donnie said.

"Or maybe you got the thing upside down" Mikey suggested.

"It's not upside down Mikey"

The doors were suddenly being punched and the others were trying their best to hold it off; Donnie removed the crystal and started to re-wire the machine.

"At this point, try anything!" Winter shouted.

"Ok, let's try it again"

The doors were busted down and some more terrifying monsters came in. Donnie was just about to put the crystal in, then he decided to turn it around and put it in; the crystal started to glow bright.

"It's working!" Donnie exclaimed.

The force shield activated and it began to expand, leaving the turtles, girls, Quarry, Stonebiter and Razorfist inside safely. The shield got bigger and it pushed them back and out of the lab.

"Don't think I didn't see that Donnie" Mikey said smugly, "It was upside down"

"It's overloading!" Quarry paniced.

The monsters kept roaring and smashing against the shield, but they soon gave up and started to leave, and just in time as the shield began to vanish.

"That was too close of a call" Phoebe sighed in relief.

"But tomorrow they'll be back, they always come back" Quarry said.

"Then you better have a bigger crystal" Leo said.

"We will not survive another journey to the forbidden zone"

"What makes the place so 'forbidden'?" Mikey asked.

"The ancient catacombs stretch for miles, we were force to explore it, many of us never returned"

"Uh, maybe they got lost"

"Don't try to sugarcoat it Mikey, life is very cruel" Winter said.

"They were taken, by a ghostly entity, there is never any sign of a struggle, they're just gone"

"Look, I understand why you don't want to go down there, but there aren't a lot of options, you need another crystal and fast" Leo said.

"And since we, uh, we're the ones who kind of fried your security system, we'll go with you, right guys" Raph offered.

The turtles and girls agreed, but Mikey was the quiet one again and they looked at him.

"You know, the corner hardware store has a sell on generators that would really get this force field humming, so I'll just go up top and clip the coupon, then-"

Raph grabbed Mikey's arm and started to drag him with the others.

"I can't believe you're being such a chicken in front of you girlfriend, that's not setting a best impression on her" Raph whispered to him.

"Ok, let's keep our wits about us" Leo advised.

"Don't worry Mikey, you can share my wits" Raph said.

"Oh, so now I'm witless?" Mikey questioned, then whispered to Raph, "And I thought you were trying to help me out"

"I can't help it if they come to me"

"And I must be the only one bothered by the fact that we're heading to a place even monsters are afraid of!"

"As Viola would say 'even the strongest of men have their fears'" Phoebe said.

"Are you connected at the brain with her?" Winter questioned.

"No, just a really good observer"

The team soon made it to some kind of slide that the turtles and girls roughly sled down and into some kind of sulfur pit.

"Short cut? In what mutated imagination could that be consider a-"

"Oh, sorry, we forgot that you can't scale rock" Quarry apologized as he and the others climbed down to them.

"It's cool, nothing serious was damaged" Winter said.

"Just a few bumps and bruises, we'll live" Phoebe added.

"Let's try and avoid that mistake in the future, ok" Raph said.

"Whoa, who cut the cheese?" Mikey questioned when the smell caught up to him.

"You're smelling a sulfur pool Mikey" Donnie said.

"Coming from a turtle who grew up in a sewer, trust me when I say this place stinks!"

"Just bear with it for a while, we'll probably be out of here in a few" Phoebe said.

"We must keep moving, the others wander down here, this is their territory" Quarry said as he lead the others on the stepping stones.

As they crossed the sulfur pool, a bubble floated up and in front of Leo, then when it popped, some weird creature was inside and was about to go at Leo, but Quarry used his tongue to snatch and eat it and Leo was a little disgusted by it.

"We learn to eat the live off the land before it lives off us" Quarry said and continued on.

"That was a little cool how he caught that" Phoebe said and everyone gave her a questioned look, but she just shrugged and they continued on.

Once they made it out, Razorfist started to dig through the walls before they came to another cavern, they started to scale the wall; Leo came out and he almost slipped into the sharp ridges below.

"Leo, you ok?" Donnie asked.

"Whoa, that was a little too close for comfort" Leo sighed in relief, "Watch your footing guys"

As they continued to scale along the side of the wall, they followed the others onto a ledge.

"This is it" Quarry said, looking down at the large whirlpool.

The three soon jumped down into whirlpool and the others were a little shocked.

"Following monsters off a cliff may not be the smartest thing we've ever done" Leo said.

"Cannonball!" Phoebe shouted and jumped into the whirlpool.

Winter then went next and dived in; then the other turtles began to follow.

"No, but it's the grossest, that thing looks like a giant toilet!" Mikey said, "Which makes me the tiny bowl turtle"

Mikey soon jumped in screaming 'cowabunga', but when he made it out, he saw sharp rocks up ahead and he tried to swim away, but the current was too strong. But then Stonebiter grabbed onto Mikey's head with his mouth and pulled him out.

"Let go of his head Stonebiter" Quarry said, then he let his head go.

"Do that again and I'll give you a real taste of the turtles dude" Mikey threatened, though it wasn't really that threatening.

"How far away from the crystals are we?" Leo asked.

"They're here in the catacombs, but from this point on, we must keep very quiet" Quarry advised.

They soon made their way up to an opening on top of the hill.

"Hey Mikey, recognize these carvings?" Donnie asked when he noticed the carvings in the wall.

"Whoa, these are just like the carvings in our lair" Mikey said.

"Yeah, same interior decorator" Raph said.

They came through the opening; they didn't have to go that far when Quarry found a crystal in the wall.

"Good, this crystal will do, we needn't travel any deeper into this evil place"

Mikey was still outside when he noticed that a small rock fell from the ceiling, then a hole was made and it was the other 'insane' monsters coming out.

"Guys, guys, guys! We got monsters, right behind me!" Mikey shouted as he ran past everyone.

"Everybody, let's get going!" Leo shouted.

"But, that way leads to-"

"No choice, let's go!"

When they came to a closed door, Razorfist tried to slice the door open, but it wouldn't budge, then Stonebiter tried as well, but it didn't make a dent, then when Quarry spit acid at the door, it didn't even melt. Donnie looked at the crystal and back at the door, then he noticed that there was a shape of a crystal hole in the wall.

"Stand back" Donnie said as he stepped forward and placed the crystal in the hole, but it didn't do anything, "Come on, come on, oh, never mind"

"Get ready boys!" Leo said as he drew his weapon.

Winter came running up just as Donnie was about to draw his weapon.

"Maybe" Winter began.

They exchanged looks, then they both grabbed the crystal and turned it around and put it back in the wall and the door opened. Winter and Donnie laughed excitedly and went to the door opening.

"We did it!" Winter said and hugged Donnie.

When she pulled back, they seemed to had a small connection when they looked at each other, but there was a weird noise and everyone looked down the corridor. Some weird orbs were spinning right at the two and it wrapped around them, then a bright light emitted, blinding everyone, then when it vanished, so did Winter and Donnie.

"Donnie, Winter?" Mikey called out.

"No!" Leo exclaimed.

"Donnie, Winter!" Raph shouted.

"They're gone" Mikey said, then he heard roaring and looked to see the other monsters closing in on them, "And in a couple of minutes, we'll be goners too!"

"And here it ends" Quarry said with no hope.

**PS: it's obvious that I'm not going to start the 2012 series with these characters until after I finished this story up, which could possibly be a _long _while, but be patient and I'll try to hurry up with this story so I can start up the 2012 series.**


	12. Notes from the Underground Part 3

The monsters were still coming and everyone was wondering where Donnie and Winter gone to when those weird orbs surrounded them.

"Donnie, Winter!" Raph shouted as he ran towards the door.

"Raph, get away from there!" Leo warned.

Raph heard a whizzing noise and he turned in time to see those same orbs fly at him and he managed to dodge them and when the spider-like monster was about to attack them, the orbs hit it and it disappeared. Then when one of the monsters attacked Razorfist, another one of the orbs came flying out and it hit both of them and they disappeared as well.

"Leo, what the shell's going on?" Mikey questioned.

Just then, the other monster attack Stonebiter and tried to use it's tail to hit him, Quarry tried to help, but the monster hit him with his tail, knocking him back. Then another flying orbs came in and it only hit Stonebiter, leaving the dangerous monster behind with the turtles, Phoebe and Quarry.

"Stonebiter, no!" Raph shouted.

"Come on you ugly troll, show me what you got!" Mikey taunted as he twirled his nunchakus around, the monster roared loudly, "Ok, I'm impressed"

"Now's not the time for showing off, we need to get out of here before we're chopped in half by his claws and find the others!" Phoebe shouted from the doorway.

"Come on, whatever's through this door can't be worse than this" Leo said.

"I hope those don't become famous last words Leo" Mikey said as he and Raph backed up.

"Come on Quarry" Phoebe said, tugging on his arm.

Leo grabbed the crystal and the doors began to shut and Leo jumped through just in time. Everyone looked forward and saw that there was a bright light emitting from the other end.

"Be ready for anything" Leo said as they walked towards the light.

When they came out, they saw what looked like a city.

"We shouldn't be here, this is an acropolis, a city of the dead!" Quarry paniced.

"You know, if there's one thing that creeps me out more than monster movies, it a city of the dead" Mikey said.

"We're not leaving, whatever's haunting this place, has made the mistake of snatching one of ours" Leo said.

"And we'll level this whole city just to get them back" Raph said frustratingly as he sliced a piece of a rock off.

"Hey guys, I found a way down there" Leo called from around the corner.

"Don't you always" Mikey said.

Just when everyone was following, Mikey noticed that Phoebe was standing staring at the crystals that were right above the city and she had this distant look on her face.

"Phoebe?" Mikey called out and touched her shoulder.

Phoebe came out of whatever trance she was in and looked Mikey.

"Huh?"

"Come on, Leo found a way to the city"

Mikey grabbed Phoebe's hand and started to lead her, though Phoebe was still looking back at the crystals. When they came around, they saw that there was some kind of transportation station hooked to a wire that leads to the city.

"Uh, maybe we should find us a different ride" Raph said.

"What're you talking about, it's fine" Leo said, but when he took a step on it, it started to creak and it jerked real hard, "Ok, maybe not so fine"

"But it's the only way" Phoebe said, then she looked down at the lava below, "Unless we can make a lava-proof boat, this is our only root and the only way to get to Donnie and Winter, we don't have much of a choice"

"Look, see" Leo said and started to climb aboard.

"Leo, don't!" Raph warned.

"There's no way I'm getting in that thing" Mikey said.

"It'll hold us" Leo said and walked further inside to what looked like a control panel, "And it looks like our crystal will power it"

Phoebe was about to climb on board as well, but Mikey grabbed her hand.

"It doesn't look safe" Mikey warned.

There was a roaring and everyone looked to see that the monsters have somehow gotten through the door and was making their way towards them.

"I don't think they look safe either!" Phoebe said.

"Well what're you waiting for?" Raph shouted as he ran on board.

"Go, go, go!" Mikey shouted.

Leo stuck in the crystal and the transport started up, the door closed and it began to move, but they barely made it half way when the whole thing started to shake, indicating that the monsters were on board with them. The monsters were starting to tear through the roof, but then it suddenly stopped. But the havoc on the transport caused the wire to snap and they were starting to fall towards the lava.

"Jump, now!" Leo shouted.

Mikey grabbed Phoebe and when they landed on one of the rock spikes, they jumped off as the transport fell apart. They managed to land on the island, but they looked back to see that the rock was collapsing and Quarry was in the way and no one had enough time and the whole thing crashed on him.

"Quarry!" Leo shouted.

Everyone ran to the wreckage, but then the rocks started to melt and green slime was starting to leak out from on top the rubble and Quarry came climbing out.

"Quarry, thank goodness you're ok!" Phoebe exclaimed and ran to hug him.

Though the turtles were relieved to see that he was alright, they were a little disturbed by the whole thing.

"We are designed to handle such adversity" Quarry said.

Everyone was walking outside of the city until they managed to find an opening.

"Those same symbols again, just like back at our place" Leo said.

"And by the looks of it all, this city's been down here for a very long time" Raph said.

"Creepy" Mikey said.

"Hey guys" Leo called out and everyone looked to see Leo on some kind of scooter, "I found some transportation"

"Of course" Mikey said, thought it sounded like it was a complain.

"Cool!" Phoebe said excitedly.

Leo stuck the crystal in and the scooter started to float. They managed to find two more scooters with crystals already in them and they explored the city.

"Wow, this place is like some kind of utopian society" Phoebe gasped as she was riding with Mikey.

"For a utopia, they sure let this place go" Raph said.

"Whoever built this place, they're defiantly the same people who built our lair" Leo said.

"Whatever, let's just focus on finding Donnie and Winter, we can go sightseeing later" Raph said as he sped up.

"Hold up!" Leo called out and they all stopped, "I think I saw something"

Leo then went into a building where he said that he saw the figure.

"Leo, wait up!" Mikey called out, then they got closer to the door, "Uh, Leo?"

"I'm going in!" Raph said as he got off of his scooter, but then there was a blinding light, "Leo!"

Raph and Mikey soon ran inside and had their weapons out, but they gasped when they saw Leo's scooter turned over and Leo was nowhere to be seen.

"Leo! LEO!" Raph shouted out as it echoed against the wall.

"Calling out like that is probably not the best idea, he's gone, just like the others" Mikey said.

When they came back outside, Quarry and Phoebe were gone.

"Phoebe!" Mikey shouted out.

There was a groaning noise and they screaming and turned around.

"Wait, it's just me" Quarry said as he and Phoebe came out of the shadow.

"What're you doing lurking around like that!" Raph shouted.

"Hiding, you-you left us alone" Quarry said.

"Man, mutate some backbone would you?" Mikey said, then Phoebe punched him in the shoulder hard, "OW! What was that for?"

"Leave Quarry alone, can't you see that he's scared, and so am I" Phoebe said.

"There it is!" Quarry shouted.

Mikey screamed and everyone looked down the street to see a mysterious figure wearing a hooded coat, then it walked away in the fog.

"That thing is mine" Raph said as he jumped on his scooter and chased after the figure.

"Wait Raph!" Phoebe called out.

There was another light.

"Raph?" Mikey called out, "Raphael?"

"Whatever that thing that Raph was following, it must have taken him" Phoebe said.

"We better go look for him" Mikey suggested.

Then when he turned around to Quarry, he screamed when he saw that he was gone, but he looked a little irritated, then reached into the shadow and pulled him out.

"Quarry, it'll be fine" Phoebe said.

They soon got on the scooter and made their way towards the direction that Raph went in, then when they made it, Raph's scooter was all that was there.

"Not good, Raph's gone too!" Mikey said as he got off.

"What're we gonna do?" Phoebe questioned.

"I warned you, I warned all, evil dwells in this dead city, we'll never get out alive!" Quarry paniced, then Mikey slapped him across the face.

"Look, if there's gonna be any hysterics, I'll have them!" Mikey said, then when he looked up, he looked frightened, "Like right now, cause I see it!"

Mikey pointed up and they looked to see the same figure on top of the building. Mikey then jumped on the scooter and raced off, but then he backed up when he forgot Quarry and Phoebe, then they got on and Mikey raced off again, but Quarry started to panic when Mikey made his way to the figure.

"No, no I can't!" Quarry shouted as he suddenly jumped off.

"Quarry!" Phoebe shouted.

Quarry landed on a bridge and looked up, Mikey and Phoebe made a jump over the figure, then when Mikey saw that they were about to crash, he grabbed Phoebe and jumped off. But they started to roll off the slants of the building a little roughly before they made it back to the ground.

"I don't recommend that" Mikey said.

"You think?" Phoebe groaned as she stood up.

Just as they were about to get Quarry, they heard a screaming and it sounded like it was Quarry.

"Quarry?" Mikey called out, then he looked towards the tower that was in the middle of the city, "Ok, you I seen before"

"What are you talking about?" Phoebe asked.

"In this freaky dream I had when we came down here" Mikey said, then he started to run towards it, "Creepy black tower, here I come!"

Phoebe soon started to chase after him; after some time, they made it to the tower without having to run into anyone and went inside. But they barely made it around the corner when they ran into the spider-like monster, but he looked to be frozen. They soon looked around and they saw that the other monsters, including their allies, were frozen as well, they even found Quarry. Then Mikey kneeled down and was about to touch the crystal that was set on the panel that Quarry was on.

"No" a voice called out.

They both looked towards a staircase and saw the figure there.

"Please, do not touch that" the figure said and made his way down the stairs, "I am not finished with him"

"Yeah you are!" Mikey shouted, then he ran at him and kicked him down.

Mikey ran over to the fallen man and removed his hood, reveal a pale man with pink eyes, then Mikey gripped the front of his hood.

"Ok baldy, where are my brothers and Winter?" Mikey questioned.

"Mikey!"

Mikey and Phoebe looked to see the turtles and Winter coming into the room.

"About time you got here, we've been waiting for you" Leo said.

"Glad to see you all chippery when we were nearly having heart attacks when you disappeared on us!" Phoebe shouted in frustration.

The man was named Entity and he lead the others back to a room where the turtles and Winter were staying at.

"We had this guy figured all wrong" Leo said.

"Yeah, he saw how the foot had mutated Quarry and the others and he just want to turn them back to normal" Donnie said.

"As we speak, the caverns crystal moon is infusing them with regenerative energy" the Entity said, pointing to the crystals above the city, "Their bodies are being genetically rebuilt inside each chrysalis, within minutes the last of them will be restored to their original human form"

"Thank you so much for clearing that up" Mikey said, though it didn't sound that sincere, then he bent down to Leo, "He's lying"

"Michelangelo, you're entirely safe, I assure you, this city was built by an ancient peace loving race" the Entity said, then held his crystal and it began to glow and this large crystal began to glow as well, "At which I am the sole survivor"

Everyone started to gather around the large crystal and it started to show a flashback, "We have lived within the earth for many millennia, spiritual bonded with it, it was a symbiosis that of always sustained us, for we were unable to endure the harshness of the outside world. Then, we detected life stirring on the surface, these new life forms fascinated us, so we began studying them from an outpost, the same outpost that most recently became your home. As the years past, however, it soon became evident that our own time was drawing to a close; yes, the earth had cast it's vote and our entire race faced extinction, they're all gone now"

"You poor man" Phoebe said sadly.

"How long has it been?" Donnie asked.

"Long enough to make this a very lonely existence" the Entity said and made his way towards the door, "Which is why I want to return those people back to normal, only then can they help me repopulate the city"

"Well, I wouldn't count on that, they all have lives waiting for them on the surface, families, friends" Leo said.

"NO!" the entity shouted, frightening the group, "They will stay, they must!"

"Well, I'm sure they'll be grateful, but-"

"I refuse to let this city die, there's so much to pass on, they must stay, and so must you!"

"You say what now?" Phoebe questioned.

"Uh, I'm afraid that being, uh, all alone down here for so long have driven this guy slightly around the bend" Donnie whispered.

"Being alone that long gives you time to plot also" Winter whispered.

"We, uh, appreciate the invitation to live with you in this wondrous world of yours, but-"

"Yes, it is wondrous, a world where even mutant turtles can freely walk the streets, no more lurking in sewers, no more hiding your faces, an entire city where you can finally be yourselves" the Entity said.

"As enticing as that sounds-"

"Let me put it this way" Raph interrupted Donnie, "There's no way we're relocating to this creepoid community, understand? Now drop it"

"Way to put it gently Raph" Phoebe scolded.

"Come on, let's go release the others" Donnie said and they were about to leave.

But when they made it to the doors, it closed.

"Trust me, you do not want to do this" Leo said.

"No, heed my offer, for my bond with the earth is strong!" the Entity said, then the room started to shake and the floor started to move and it aimed at them.

They moved out of the way in time before it crushed them; then when Donnie threw his staff, the Entity blocked it by moving the ground up and then it captured Donnie. Then when Leo was charging at him, a piece of rock moved up and tripped him, then when he crashed into the wall, it moved and trapped him as well. Then Raph tried to jump up from behind, but the ground grabbed him and his arms and legs sunk into the floor. Then Mikey tried to kick at him, but he moved some spears from the wall and knocked him down.

"You guys are a lot of help" Mikey said to his brothers as he stood up.

"Just get his amulet Mikey, that's how he's controlling every!" Donnie called out.

"Before or after he plunges me with those things!" Mikey shouted as he ran away from the spears.

"Preferably before" Leo said.

When Mikey made it to Raph, he jumped over him, then he spun on his shell and kicked the spears away and one of them sliced the amulet off of the Entity's necklace, then the spears stopped and fell to the ground. Mikey then charged for the amulet and so did the Entity, just as they both grabbed it, the crashed through the wall and into the next room. While Mikey was a little dizzy, the Entity grabbed the amulet, but during the crash, Mikey saw the orbs on the ground beside of him.

"Time to put you on ice!" Mikey shouted as he threw the orbs at the Entity.

The orbs wrapped around him and he was transported to one of the panels, the panel wrapped around him and it started to fill up with water and he froze. Mikey soon came back and released his brothers.

"Thanks Mikey, you really stepped up" Leo said.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool Mikey" Phoebe said and Mikey blushed.

They soon went into the next room where the Entity was.

"Not one for the highlight real though, the guy wasn't evil, just lonely, and who can blame him" Mikey said.

"Ok, let's find something heavy and crack these puppies open" Raph said as they went to Quarry.

"Always want to deal with something with a blunt object" Winter said.

"Actually, no blunt force required, I believe this crystal is the release" Donnie said and turned the crystal on the panel.

Smoke started to cover Quarry and then it started to break.

"Quarry?" Leo questioned as he came in.

"You're a girl!" Mikey gasped as he and his brothers covered their eyes.

"I'm, back to normal" Quarry said.

"Come on turtles, let's free the others" Donnie said.

"We'll find some clothes" Phoebe said.

They soon released the others and they returned back to human form and Phoebe and Winter found some clothes for them.

"Well, that's all of them" Donnie said as they found a way out of the city.

"No!" Quarry screamed.

The turtles ran to see that when one of the people barely took a step outside, he reverted back to his monster form. The turtles grabbed the man and pulled him back, then he went back to his human form.

"He-he reverted back just as he stepped out of the cavern, why?" Quarry questioned.

Everyone went back into the cavern and Donnie pointed to the crystal moon, "There, I think that's the cause, remember, he said it provides regenerative energy, stray too far from it and it seems the effects reverse themselves"

"Then, we can't leave his city? I don't believe it, he got what he wanted after all" Quarry said gravely.

"We'll figure this all out, Don's pretty good-"

"No" Quarry interrupted Leo, "We can't let you stay, who knows how long it'll take"

"But just taking off is not our style" Mikey objected.

"Please, you have your own lives to get back to, believe men, if the solution is here, we'll find it"

"I'll keep studying the crystals, we can beat this" Donnie said.

"And then, we'll be back" Leo said.

"That's a promise" Raph said.

"Thank you" Quarry said.

The turtles and girls were soon making their way back to the lair.

"Those poor people, I couldn't imagine not seeing any of my family or friends" Phoebe said.

The turtles must have sense something, because they pulled Phoebe and Winter into a tunnel and hid. There was splashing down the sewers and it was the Foot that came running down.

"Foot ninjas?" Leo questioned.

"What're they doing down here?" Raph questioned.

Something touched Mikey's shoulder and he was about to scream, but Splinter covered his mouth and shushed him.

"What, I'm the only screamer? You just have to cover my mouth?" Mikey questioned.

"After today, yes" Phoebe said.

"Master Splinter, what's going on?" Leo asked.

"I do not know, but I believe the Foot are searching the sewers for us, they are everywhere" Splinter informed.

"You got to be kidding me!" Raph complained.

"We cannot reach the lair undetected, we must find a new place to stay and fast"

Mikey then started to look like he was thinking, "Hey, I know just the place"

The turtles soon went up to the surface and April opened the door.

"Hey April, ghoulish mud pack girl" Mikey said as he went in.

"Mind if we bunk upstairs in your apartment for awhile?" Leo asked as he followed in.

"Hey what's to eat?" Raph asked as he went in as well.

"You got digital cable right?" Donnie asked as he went in.

Mikey then broke a few things, "Sorry!"

"Miss O'Neil, your hospitality is very must appreciated" Splinter said as he went in.

"Don't worry April, we'll help you out with the boys, we know how much a handful they can be" Winter offered.

"But do you mind if we rest for a bit before we do that, we had a long day" Phoebe yawned as she and Winter went in, while April was completely confused about what was going on.


	13. The King

Over at April's apartment, where the turtles and Splinter were staying ever since the sewers were overrun by the Foot ninjas, Leo and Raph were beginning to argue, again.

"Look, we need to go back down there, and flush those stinking Foot ninjas out of our sewers!" Raph said, "And I mean flush!"

"Raph, we don't even know what they're doing down there" Leo said.

"I don't care!"

"You should!"

"My sons" Splinter interrupted, "You thwarted their many schemes and defeated their master, clearly they are searching for our lair"

"I thought with The Shredder gone, we've seen the last of those bozos" Mikey said, "Do you really think they could find our lair? I just got my room the way I like it and my famous ninja trading card collection is just lying out in the open, if they take that I'll-I'll-"

"Relax Mikey" Donnie interrupted, "With all the techno camouflage and security devices I've installed, there's no way they'll find our place" Donnie reached into the potato chip bag, "Barbeque soy chip?"

"Fire away bro" Mikey said and caught the chip as Donnie tossed it.

"Those nin-jerks are keeping us from our home" Raph continued the argument, "We should be down there smacking heads!"

Phoebe and April were trying to watch TV, but Raph and Leo were standing right in front of it.

"Running into battle without knowledge or preparation is foolish" Splinter advised, "Sometimes it is best to sit still, the answers will come"

"Master Splinter's right" Leo agreed, "Besides, our home is where we're all together as a family, that's what really matters"

"Ahem" April called out, "You guys are more than welcomed to stay with me for as long as you need to, just as long as you don't stand in front of the TV"

"Uh sorry" Raph said as he moved out of the way.

"Sorry April" Leo added.

The doorbell suddenly ranged out and everyone looked towards the door.

"Oh no" April gasped as she stood up, "Who could that be? You guys can't be seen, you better all-" when April turned around, the room was completely empty and Phoebe stood up in shock and looked around.

"I was sitting right here, how'd they do that?" Phoebe questioned.

April opened the door and there was a deliveryman standing there.

"Chinese takeout" the man said as he held up a bag, "14.95 lady"

"But, I didn't order any-" April started, but then Phoebe popped up beside her.

"Oh, I did, I thought I told you earlier" Phoebe covered, using a tone that said that it was really the turtles who ordered the food.

"Oh, of course we did, I'll get my purse"

April had left the room and while standing there, the deliveryman saw Mikey, but when he shook his head, thinking that he was just seeing things, Mikey had replaced himself with a teddy bear and he was about to walk in.

"Uh thanks" April said hurriedly as she handed him the money and grabbed the bag, "Thank you so much, bye now!" April closed the door and when she turned around, they turtles and Splinter was back in the open again. "Wow, you guys are good" April said.

"It's our job" Leo said as he bowed.

"We're ninja" Donnie added.

"Yeah, check out my ninja stealth action, now you see me" Mikey said as he grabbed the potato chip bag and held it in his face, "Now you don't. Now you see me. Now you don't"

Phoebe laughed and walked over to grab the bag from his hands and sat on the couch, "You're too cute"

"She thinks I'm cute" Mikey gloated to his brothers.

April walked over to stand in front of Mikey and Donnie and held up the Chinese takeout bag, "Your order, I presume?"

Donnie and Mikey pointed at each other, "He did it!"

"May I have the privilege of getting anything else, m'lords?" April said sarcastically.

"No, we're fine, thanks" Donnie said.

"One for column A, one for column B" Mikey said as he grabbed the takeout boxes and handed one to Donnie and they both startled to scarf down the food.

"Oh, I feel like I've gone from happily single to mother of four over night" April sighed.

"Tell me about it" Splinter said and Phoebe laughed a little.

Raph then stretched and yawned, "Well, I'm hitting the showers"

While Raph was taking a shower, singing, Donnie was rewiring something and everybody else was sitting around. But then another knock came at the door.

"April, it's Winter and Viola is here too" Winter called out.

April walked over and opened the door and the two girls walked in and both of them were holding brown paper bags.

"Hey girls, thanks for picking up some groceries" April said and closed the door, "Now that I have some roommates, I kind of have to start making dinner for six"

"It's no problem April" Viola said, grabbing Winter's paper bag and walked into the kitchen.

"Is that Raph?" Winter laughed when she heard him singing, "Doesn't he have a voice of an angel"

Suddenly, Raph had yelped out and opened the door up and walked out.

"Yo Donnie!" Raph called out and was walking closer to him but was startled when Viola had came out of the kitchen and they were standing close to each other, "AH!" Raph tried to back up, but had slipped because the floor was wet and then hid behind the wall.

"Raph, are you ok?" Viola called out when he had fallen.

"I-I'm fine, I'm fine!" Raph said as his whole face turned red, then he had called out to Donnie again, who was trying to hold in his laughter like the others, "Donnie, can you do something about the hot water? Turtle can't even get a decent shower in this joint"

"Been there, done that" Donnie said when he managed to contain his laughter.

"Well go there and do it again!"

"Why is it always me? Why don't you ask Mikey to fix something once and a while?"

He looked over and watched as Mikey hummed a song while eating chips, "What?"

"Never mind" Donnie sighed and placed the device down and his goggles on the table, "I'll go fix the water heater, again" Donnie stood up and made his way towards the door.

"I really appreciate it Don" April said.

"No problem"

"But keep an eye out for Kirby; you know, the guy I least the basement apartment to? I don't need you scaring my new tenant"

"Don't worry April, I'm a ninja, piece of cake"

"There's cake!" Mikey exclaimed, "I love cake!"

"Can I tag along?" Winter asked.

"I'm just going to fix the water heater" Donnie said.

"That's what you said about the blackout and you ran into a bunch of ninjas, I don't want to be left out of any kind of adventure, no matter how simple. Plus, I can be a cover up in case that Kirby guy shows up"

"Ok, let's get going before Raph starts to complain"

The two then walked down to the store and then to the door that lead to the basement. As they walked down to the dark basement, the stairs made a lot of creaking noise.

"I know there's a light around here somewhere" Donnie said as he looked around.

"Well find it quick" Winter said, her hand holding onto his upper arm, which was making him a little nervous, "I've seen movies about dark basements and it doesn't end well"

As they continued to walk, Donnie finally found the chain to the light bulb and turned it on. But as they turned it on, they looked to see a shadow coming around the corner.

"What's that?" Donnie gasped.

Just as he said that, a giant bat-like creature came up and screeched at them and flies towards them.

"Donnie!" Winter cried out as it came closer.

Donnie grabbed Winter and jumped out of the way as the creature flew at them a few times before it flew back around the corner where it had came from.

"What was that thing?" Donnie questioned, unaware that he was still holding Winter close to him.

"It's just like in that basement movie" Winter said gravely, practically shaken to her core. Donnie took a step forward. "Donnie, what are you doing?" Winter questioned, pulling Donnie back.

"We should check it out to see where it went, we can't let that thing fly around April's apartment" Donnie said, then realized that he was still holding Winter and placed her down and turned around before she noticed that he was blushing a deep red.

When they peeked around the corner, they were surprised to see it empty.

"I could have sworn it went this way" Donnie said.

"Hey Don, look" Winter said, pointing back down the hall near the stairs to a cracked door with the light on.

As they walked towards the door and peeked in, they saw a man sitting at a drawing desk and was drawing something.

"That must be April's new tenant" Donnie said, "What's he doing?"

"I don't know, he's sitting at a drawing desk, sketching in a sketch book, he's probably plotting out how to take over Russia" Winter said sarcastically.

Whatever Kirby had finished drawing, they watched as a bug came out of the paper and flew around the room.

"Whoa, how'd he do that?" Donnie questioned as he unconsciously opened the door and the bug flew closer to the two.

The bug then flew out of the room and into the hallway before it suddenly disappeared into the air. But since the man was watching the bug fly, he spotted Donnie and Winter standing at the door.

"What? A green monster?" Kirby questioned in fright, "I don't remember drawing you" then Kirby started to panic as he stood up, "You must-you must be here for your crystal"

"Crystal?" Winter questioned as they both stepped into the room.

"Look pal, I was only borrowing it for a while, just put the stick down"

"Slow down friend" Donnie spoke calmly, "I know I must look weird to you, but I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Donatello and this is my friend Winter"

"And I really don't think you have to be a afraid of a five foot four teenage girl" Winter said with a small laugh.

"And I don't know anything about any crystal" Donnie finished, then took a few steps forward to Kirby, "But what I really want to know is how you just did what you did"

Kirby looked at the crystal tied to his pencil, "It wasn't really me, I-I mean I can draw, sure, I've been doing it for years; but, it's this crystal, it supplies the magic"

"Crystals" Donnie groaned slightly, remembering the time in the underground city, "It had to be crystals"

"What do you mean?" Kirby asked.

"Nothing, it's just that I've had my fair share of magic crystals lately"

"You should really try this" Kirby offered, walking back to his drawing table, "Here, let me find you a clean page"

"Say, doesn't my appearance freak you out a little?" Donnie asked.

"Fella, since my sketches started leaping off the page, I've seen freakier, believe me. By the way, my friends call me Kirby"

"You can call me Don"

"And I'll just be Winter"

"So, where did you get that crystal Kirby?" Donnie asked.

"I found it in a pile of coal of all places and accidentally discovered what it could do" Kirby informed then handed Donnie the pencil, "Here, draw something"

Donnie took the pencil, "This is too good to pass up" Donnie walked to stand at the desk and sat down in the chair, "I wonder if there's some sort of bio-molecular energy transfer involved"

"Don, just draw something" Kirby urged.

"Yeah, don't think science things about magical things, they don't mix" Winter said.

Donnie laughed a little, "Ok, but I'm afraid a stick person is the best I can do"

"Don't worry, it takes a few years of practice before you can really have fun" Donnie then drew a decent looking stick figure, "Not a bad stick guy though"

"There, finished" Donnie said as he finished.

The stick figure began to lift from the page and then jumped all the way across the room and landed on a table. But as it jumped to the next table, it kicked a spray can to the ground.

"This is too wild!" Donnie laughed.

"Told you" Kirby laughed as well.

"That thing sure is hyper" Winter said as the stick figure kept jumped around.

Then the stick figure ran over and kicked Donnie in the shin.

"Ow!" Donnie cried out as he grabbed his shin and then the stick figure kicked Donnie in the other shin, "Ow!" Winter tried her best to hold in her laughter as Donnie grabbed his bo staff, "Hey, now cut that out!"

As the stick figure started to back off, it disappeared into thin air, like the bug did.

"My turn! My turn!" Winter called out excitedly and sat down at the desk and grabbed the pencil.

The two stood over Winter as she started to draw something on the next page to Donnie's drawing and she was actually drawing a lot better than Donnie did. When she was done, it was a drawing of a rabbit and it came off the page.

"Wow" Winter gasped in amazement and reached forward to pet the rabbit drawing.

The rabbit then jumped off the page and began to hop around the room before it had disappeared as well.

"They just disappear" Donnie said in surprise.

"They all do, everything I draw comes to life and then they just vanish" Kirby said, then he started to walk towards something that was covered by a sheet, "One exception though, a thing I drew a couple of weeks ago, it didn't go away" Kirby grabbed the old sheet and pulled it off, revealing a portal, "Can't rightly tell you what it is"

"Looks like weird kind of doorway" Donnie said as he stepped closer and then reached forward to put his hand through the portal.

"Careful Donnie" Winter warned.

Donnie then pulled his hand back, "Incredible!"

"Hey" Kirby called out, "Be careful" Donnie looked back at the two before he turned back and stepped all the way through the portal, "Don!" Kirby called out, "Don, can you hear me?"

Donnie then popped back out and it startled the two.

"You're not going to believe this!" Donnie said excitedly, "You've got to see what's on the other side of this thing"

Kirby hesitated for a bit, "Ah, what the heck" Kirby placed the pencil behind his ear and walked over to his desk to grab his notebook, "Let me just grab my sketchbook"

Donnie soon went back in and Kirby ran straight into it, Winter was a bit hesitant about it, but she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and jumped right in. On the other end, Kirby came out and was falling pretty far, but he was caught by Donnie and set safely back on the ground.

"That last steps a doozy huh?" Donnie said.

Donnie heard a small scream and he looked up and saw Winter falling through. He manage to catch her, but he had fallen down as well.

Winter lifted herself up to look down at Donnie and she laughed a little, "How is it that we're always in this position?"

"Yeah" Donnie laughed as well with a deep blush.

Winter stood up and helped Donnie stand up as well and they took a look around and the place was beautiful.

"One question though" Donnie said as he looked around, "What is this place?"

"It's so beautiful" Winter gasped as she watched a comet shoot by them from across the sky.

"It's like some sort of alternate reality, a different dimension, it's-it's incredible"

"And it all looks familiar" Kirby spoke, "Too familiar"

"How so?" Winter asked.

"What do you mean?" Donnie added.

"Look" Kirby said and opened up his sketchbook to reveal and drawing of the world that they were in, "I drew it, I drew it all"

Donnie looked up from the sketchbook when he heard a strange sound, "Hey, check out that weirdo"

"You really want to be calling that thing a weirdo?" Winter teased as they looked at the monster walking across from them.

"It looks like one of those monsters out of your notebook"

Kirby held up the notebook to compare the creature to it, "It is, I remember drawing that one"

"It's ignoring us" Donnie said as he pointed at the creature walking away from them.

"Come on!" Kirby urged and started to follow the creature to wherever it was going.

Donnie and Winter soon followed and when the three of them had made it to wherever the creature had gone to, they came to a giant city floating in the air and had a bride that led up to it and more of the creatures that Kirby drew were rushing towards the bridge and there were people in battle armor blocking the bridge.

"Looks like someone's in store for a monster size beat down!" Donnie exclaimed.

"Those creatures are going to rip those guys apart!" Kirby said.

As they watch the two sides fight, the men seemed to be handling themselves well at first, but then the tables were turned and they were getting beaten as more of those creatures started to show up. Then a man had came down from the bridge and threw his hammer at one of the monsters, but it smashed its fist into it and it exploded brightly. The three were blinded for a moment before they saw that most of the men were knocked to the ground.

"We got to do something!" Kirby exclaimed.

"Stay here!" Donnie said as he grabbed his bo staff, "I'm on it!"

Donnie charged into the field and at the creatures, knocking them all down with ease. More creatures continued to charge at Donnie and saw was knocking them all down and then jumped to stand with the other men as they finally regain consciousness. When they worked together, they managed to knock down half of the army before the rest of them ran off.

"Woohoo! Way to go Donnie!" Winter cheered as she and Kirby ran to stand by them.

"I came, I saw, I kicked monster butt!" Donnie cheered as well.

"Wow Don, you've got some moves" Kirby complimented, "I've never seen anything like that. Except maybe in the comics"

"Well Donnie's the real deal" Winter said.

"Hail to you strangers" the man with red hair greeted as he stepped forward with his men.

"Um, hi" Donnie greeted, "I mean, hail"

"You are welcomed here. We few are all that stand against the darkness, the creatures which you helped us defeat. We owe you our gratitude, but we must prepare, they will return"

"So you're in an all out never ending war with these monsters?" Winter asked.

"They can bring it on, I was just getting warmed up" Donnie said confidently.

"They will be back in greater numbers" the red haired man informed, "More than we can possibly defend against, and when they come, in force, we may lose the bridge and with it, our city. I cannot bear to think of the dark powers destroying our wondrous city, our loved ones, our families. Those monsters, they will destroy everything"

"We won't let that happen" Donnie said determinedly.

"We'll do whatever we can to stop them" Kirby added.

"If they want a fight, they came to the wrong place at the wrong time" Winter said as she cracked her knuckles.

"You're a warrior?" the red haired man asked skeptically.

Winter scoffed, "If you knew my world, you'd understand"

"Sire!" the man with blue hair called out, "Here they come! Thousands of them"

Everyone looked back and saw that there were thousands of monsters rushing towards them.

"We must defend the entrance to the bridge" the red haired man said as he held up his weapons, "Even if it cost us our lives"

Donnie jumped in with them, "Let's do it!"

"I'm so ready for this!" Winter exclaimed as she got in a stance.

"Winter, you have to stay back" Donnie advised.

"What?"

"There are way too many of them"

"But I've been training in kickboxing, I can help out"

"But you've never faced anything like this before. Please, I'd feel much better if you just stayed back with Kirby, where it's safe" Donnie said and looked back at the monster army, "Man Kirby, you draw all of those?"

"Yeah, I have a habit of drawing a lot" Kirby said.

"Did you have to be so prolific? Couldn't you have drawn less? Or maybe some more friendly guys?"

"Heck, how was I suppose to know they'd all come alive and attack us?"

"We must not let them across the bridge!" the red haired man said.

As the monsters came closer and closer, the others soon charged into battle as well and they were fighting hard.

"Oh Kirby, there's too many of them!" Winter exclaimed, "What can we do? Apparently I can't fight because I'm a five foot four teenage girl who's only trained in kickboxing for six years and they're giant monsters!"

Kirby looked at all the monsters before he opened up his notebook and looked at the things that were real and alive that he had drawn.

"Hey, I've got an idea" Kirby said and began to draw in his notebook.

"Uh Kirby, I don't think it's the right time to be artistic" Winter said.

"Don't worry, it's a good idea, plus, you'd get to fight" Kirby said as he drew Winter, but added knee length metal boots, elbow length metal gloves and a helmet.

When he had finished drawing, Winter was surrounded by glowing blue sparkles and then she had the boots, gloves and helmets on.

"Whoa!" Winter gasped in amazement; looking at the accessories she was given.

"They'll give you extra strength, speed and endurance against those things" Kirby said and turned another page, "No go help Don, and I'll do the same!"

Winter nodded and rushed, with incredible speed, into the battle and ran to Donnie as a monster was standing behind him with a giant club, ready to strike him down. Winter jumped high and brought her fist down onto the monster, causing the earth to dent and crush underneath her strength.

"Whoa!" Donnie gasped as he watch Winter climb up out of the crater and tossed her hair back.

"Thank you" Winter said as she took a bow, "It was the assistance of Kirby. And I think he's assisting you too" Witner pointed at Donnie's arm as it started to glow blue as well and a hand cannon was attached to him.

"What the shell?" Donnie questioned.

"I call it a gravity equalizer!" Kirby called out, "It cancels the gravity equation! I just made it up!"

"I like it!" Donnie said as he put his bo staff away.

When more of the monsters charged at Donnie, he blasted the cannon at them and they started to float up into the air.

Donnie was excited at first before more monster ran at him, "Eat negative gravity you loser!" Donnie blasted at the monsters and they floated up in the air as well.

"Nice shot Donnie!" Winter called out as she jumped up and kicked another monster into a pile she was making.

Donnie then shot at two other monsters that were attacking one of the good guys and blew at the smoke, "The gravity equalizer, don't leave home without it" Just when another monster was charging at Donnie, he tried to fire his cannon, but it suddenly shorted out, "Uh oh, that doesn't sound good" when the monster attacked Donnie, he blocked the first attack before using the cannon to knock it down, "Makes a good club anyway"

"Donnie!" Winter called out as she rushed over to him and pointed towards the bridge, "Those monsters are getting to the bridge"

"They're still coming Kirby! Lots of them! Do something!" Donnie called out to him as he continued to draw something else.

"Add a size reference for scale, finish it up with a few details and..." as Kirby drew, the bright blue sparkles appeared and him, Donnie and Winter were aboard a machine with claws.

"Whoa, unbelievable!" Donnie gasped, "And what do you call this one?"

"It's kind of a mobile creep trapper" Kirby informed, "It's supposed to respond to my brainwaves, see" Kirby demonstrated by moving his hands and grabbing the monsters below them and popped them into the opening of the machine.

"Looks like it's time to commence operation clean up" Donnie said as he threw the cannon away.

"Great name, they were trash to begin with" Winter said as she watched as Kirby continued to dispose of the monsters.

"Alright Kirby, you do your thing, I'll do mine!" Donnie said as he jumped out of machine and knocked down three of the monsters.

"The creatures have broken through!" the red haired man called out, pointing to the monsters as they made their way up the bridge, "We must stop them!"

"I think this is where I tag in" Winter said as she jumped out of the machine and used her speed to run towards the bridge.

"Hey, get back here you creepy creeps!" Donnie called out as he ran to catch up with Winter, "Unless you're afraid!"

That got the monsters attentions as they turned around and three of them tackled Donnie to the ground. The rest of the human army was having trouble as well as they were being taken down one by one.

"It's no good, there's too many of them!" Donnie exclaimed as he tried to keep the monsters back.

"What to do? What to do?" Kirby questioned as he tried to think quickly before any of the monsters made it up to the city or hurt the others below, but then thought of something, "Wait, if all these goons are in this sketchbook, then"

Kirby searched through the pages for a blank spot and then started to draw as quickly as he could. The monsters were getting closer to the city and a child had stood there at the entrance, watching in fear as the monsters were running towards them. A woman ran to the child and picked her up and started to run away, but she didn't get far as she tripped and the monsters were getting closer to the pair.

But then, blue sparkles started to cover the monsters and they were then bounded and locked down, seizing anymore of their destructive hostility. Donnie stood up and looked at the monsters that were jump attacking them, seeing them tied down. The warriors cheered as all the monsters were locked down, ending their war.

"Thank you mighty sorcerer" the red haired man said as he and the others stood in front of Kirby, "You are welcomed in our land and our homes anytime"

"Gee, thanks" Kirby said as he gave a thumbs up.

"I'm so glad I came down to check the water heater with you" Winter said as she took her helmet off and ran to wrap her arms around Donnie's neck.

"Yeah, me too, you really saved my shell" Donnie said as he hugged Winter back.

When they pulled back, they had that same connection as they did in the underground city when they looked in each others eyes.

Winter let go of Donnie and tucked her hair behind her ear, laughing nervously as she blushed a little, "You fought pretty good, Don"

"So did you, you had some killer moves there" Donnie said with a blush that matched Winter's.

"L-let's go check on Kirby" Winter suggested.

Donnie and Winter walked over as Kirby was climbing down from his machine.

"Kirby my friend" Donnie spoke, "You are the king"

"Well, he practically is since he created this world" Winter pointed out.

"I guess you're right, but how'd you do that?"

"As fast as I could" Kirby said as he flipped through the pages to show drawing of the monsters tied up. The three of them laughed a little.

"Come on, we should go home" Donnie suggested as they were making their way to leave.

"Yeah, I guess you're right" Kirby agreed, "Though I got to say, I'd really wish we had more time to explore this place. I mean, it's incredible"

"Hey, we can do that another day. How about some chow? I'm starving"

"You can say that again" Winter laughed as she patted her stomach.

"As long as you're buying" Kirby joked.

They heard a weird noise and they looked over to see that the portal was starting to twist and shrink.

"The portal!" Donnie gasped and they rushed towards it.

"It's shrinking!" Kirby exclaimed, "Donnie, Winter, you go first!"

"But-"

"Don't argue, there's no time! Just go!"

Donnie looked unsure at first, but then he picked Winter up, "Ok, but once I'm in, I'll pull you through and-!"

As they jumped through the portal and back into their world, Donnie was stuck as Winter was tossed halfway across the room.

"No, I'm stuck!" Donnie exclaimed as he tried to pull himself out.

Winter stood up and grabbed onto Donnie's arms and tried to pull him through while Kirby pushed on the other side. Donnie was soon all the way through, but the portal had shrunk to the point that Kirby couldn't get through.

"The portal! Kirby! No!" Donnie exclaimed as he and Winter kneeled down at the portal in distress.

The portal disappeared and Donnie and Winter were saddened by their friends desertion. But then, a paper airplane landed in front of the two and Donnie picked it up.

"What?" Donnie questioned as he opened the paper up and saw that there was a note inside and it was a picture of Donnie with the cannon.

_'Don, life at best is bittersweet. See you around pal, Kirby'_ Donnie lowered the note and sighed.

Winter placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort, "He'll be alright Donnie, he's in a place where the sky's the limit for him. It's a dream come true for an artists' work to come to life like that, he'll be happy there"

Donnie looked up at Winter and smiled in relief, "I think you're right. He'll be much happier there"

"Now let's go and fix that water heater" Donnie and Winter laughed a little and stood up, leaving the room and softly closed the door behind them.


	14. Chapter 14

The turtles staying over at April's was starting to get a little frustrating for April, there was fighting, food delivered to her apartment without her knowing, the place was constantly a mess and the TV was blocked or hogged all the time. The phone started to ring and April went to answer it.

"Hello?... oh, hey Sara, what's up?"

When Leo heard that name, he perked up a little.

"Really, that sounds wonderful, I'll tell them, see you soon, bye"

April soon hung the phone up and Leo was the first one to go to her.

"Who was that April?" Leo asked.

"That was Sara, she invited us to her place for dinner" April informed.

"But what about her parents?" Donnie asked.

"Her mom won't be there, and she said that she invited the girls over as well" April said in a convincing tone when she mentioned the girls.

"Awesome!" Mikey said with a thumbs up.

"What's for dinner?" Raph asked.

"Her famous beef stew" April answered.

"What's so famous about it?" Mikey asked.

"When you taste it, you won't have any other kind of stew, it's just amazing"

"Then lets head out" Leo said.

April, the turtles and Splinter soon made it to Sara's apartment, but the turtles and Splinter kind of had to go up the fire escape so they wouldn't be seen by the other residents and knocked on the window. It was a little while before Sara actually answered the window and the turtles were surprised to see what she was wearing. She was wearing her tomboy clothes, but she had on a frilly white and pink apron and Leo just kept staring at her in awe.

"Aww, don't you look like a cute little house wife" Mikey teased as he petted Sara's head.

Sara gave him a deadpan look before she grabbed and twisted his wrist and he screamed in pain.

"Don't degrade me" Sara said and released Mikey's hand.

"Why are you wearing an apron?" Leo asked.

"Because I was cooking" Sara said and moved so the turtles and Splinter could come in.

"Food smells good" Raph said when he smelled something good.

"It's almost done, now just don't touch anything, just sit in the living room and keep your hands to yourself" Sara said sternly.

"Thank you for inviting us for dinner" Splinter said.

"No prob, Winter told me that the turtles kept ordering take out and if it kept up, they would have blown through her savings" Sara whispered to Splinter.

The turtles, Splinter and April sat in the living room while Sara was finishing up with dinner, then there was a knock at the door.

"That's probably the girls" Sara called out.

April went to answer the door and it was the girls and Casey was with them.

"Hey guys, I see you got the invitation as well" Winter said, then held up a bowl, "I made some salad to go with the stew"

"And I baked brownies!" Phoebe said as she held out a pan.

"Brownies, alright!" Mikey exclaimed and tried to reach for the brownies, but Phoebe pulled it away.

"Uh-uh, this is for dessert" Phoebe said.

"Foods done!" Sara called out.

Everyone soon gathered the table and began to eat and the stew was amazing, like April said, they even emptied out the whole giant pot of the stew. During the meal, everyone was talking and laughing, having a great time and it was great not to hear Leo and Raph fight about what to do about the Foot ninjas in the sewers. After everyone finished the meal, they were in the living room having the brownie Phoebe made and watching movies while Sara was in the kitchen cleaning the table. Leo soon came in and helped put the dishes in the sink.

"Thanks for having us over, dinner was wonderful" Leo said.

"Thanks, I'm glad you liked it, the stew was my grandmothers recipe; there are times when I actually make too much and it lasts me for about a week; I'm glad you guys came over" Sara said.

"So where is your mom?"

"Oh, she's in London"

Leo was a little surprised to hear that she was in London.

"What's she doing there?"

"She's a renowned ballet dance, which is where I learned to dance, so she's kind of gone for most of the year, but she wires me money to pay for things"

"Oh"

"Yeah, it gets kind of lonely here sometimes"

"But I thought you said you had four brothers"

"I do…my parents divorced when I was ten and my mother took me because she and dad thought it would be better for me to stay with her and we moved here. I used to live in Minnesota"

"So do you get to see your brothers or father?"

"Sometimes, but they're really busy with work or school, so, like earlier, it gets a little lonely here, I'm happy that you guys could come and have dinner, it's nice to have the whole gang together for some fun rather than disasters"

"…You know, you could visit the lair any time you want and hang out; you know, when we're not fighting ninjas"

Sara looked at him with a little surprise, then she smiled warmly at him, which made Leo blush.

"Well aren't you the kindest turtle I've met Leonardo, thank you for the offer"

Leo smiled a little nervously but happily, then he and Sara went into the living room with the others and watched movies all night.


	15. The Monster Hunter

**Hey, sorry that I skipped a few of the episodes, but the explanation is in the other chapters and I'm trying to write my own to be longer, but I'm not that good at coming up with ideas, but I'm trying.**

After barely escaping the Foot Elite, the Foot and the Shredder himself, the turtles, Splinter, Casey and April were at Casey's grandmother's farmhouse so that they could hide until Leo was fully healed. The girls were very worried when they heard that April's apartment was destroyed, but they found out where they were and they took a bus there. When they arrived, they were very worried when they found out about Leo's condition, but they were glad to see that Leo was awake and walking around.

"Glad to see you up and about" Sara said.

"We'd hug you, but the pile on might put you back into a coma" Phoebe said.

"I can't believe that the Shredders back" Viola said.

"We are so gonna put a beat down on that monster" Winter said while punching her fist into her hand.

"But we must wait until Leonardo is fully recovered before we can do anything" Splinter said.

"Do you need anything Leo?" Viola asked.

"Nothing at the moment" Leo said quietly.

Sara took her beanie off and placed it on Leo's head, "To keep you warm and it's my lucky beanie"

"What makes it lucky?" Phoebe asked.

"I managed to do an Ollie backwards and land on the rail with the backend of my skateboard, that's pretty lucky to me"

"Thanks" Leo said with a small blush.

"No prob" Sara said as she patted Leo's uninjured shoulder.

A few days passed and things were a little normal, but Leo was suddenly acting distant towards everyone and spending most of his time in the barn.

"No, no, no, ahhh, nooo!" April screamed when Casey walked in, tracking snow in the house, "Casey Jones, I just mopped the floor; out, out! You big careless jerk!" April shouted as she swat at him with the mop.

"Hey, you can't kick me out of here girlzilla, this is my grandma's house, so it's my house!" Casey shot back as he grabbed the mop to get her to stop, April gave a hard glare at Casey and he started to back up in fright, "Uh guys, I'll be outside if anyone needs me" Casey said and left.

Splinter and Winter laughed a little.

"They seem to be getting along well" Winter joked.

"Yeah right, if I need a Neanderthal, I'll give a yell" April groaned as she went into the kitchen.

"Hey, where is everybody?" Raph questioned as he came down.

"Casey's been ejected from the ball park and April and Sara are in the kitchen" Donnie answered as he was fixing up the toaster, "I think Mikey invited Phoebe in exploring the woods"

"Despite explicated instructions to stay near the house" Splinter said.

"Where's Viola?" Raph asked.

Everyone was a bit quiet.

"She's not upstairs?" Winter asked.

"No"

"Huh, well, she's got to be somewhere"

"And Leo?"

"He's-he's kind of been moping around out in the barn all morning" Donnie answered.

"Again?"

"Your brother's suffered injuries both physical and spiritual Raphael, and he will need the support of all of us, if he wounds are to fully heal" Splinter said.

Leo was just pacing back and forth, swishing a twig around, but he sighed and dropped it, breaking it on the ground and he leaned against the fireplace.

"Leo?" Leo looked up to see Sara walking towards him with a tray of food in her hands, "I thought you might need something to eat, you didn't eat with us this morning" Sara said as she placed the tray on the bricks of the fireplace.

"Thanks" Leo said and just turned to look at the fire.

He suddenly felt arms wrap around him from behind.

"We're glad that you're alright, we were real scared when we heard that the Shredder returned… try not to push yourself, ok?" Sara asked and leaned up to give a small kiss on Leo's cheek, then she left. Leo touched his cheek and smiled, it brightened him up a little.

Back in the house, April came out of the kitchen, still a little irritated, and sat down beside of Winter on the coach.

"What is it about Casey that gets under my skin?" April questioned frustratingly, "He's so-so, URG! Master Splinter, maybe you can teach me to meditate so I wouldn't get so angry at him"

"Even meditation has its limits" Splinter said and Winter laughed a little.

Outside, Casey was washing off the muck off his shoes.

"Women, who needs them" Casey grunted, then heard a loud munching noise and turned to see Mikey and Phoebe leaning against the house, eating some nuts.

"Nut?" Mikey offered and laughed a little.

"You're the nut; hey, where have you two been all morning?" Casey asked as he took a nut and ate it.

"Just wandering the woods with Phoebe"

"We got lost because Mikey thought he knew the way" Phoebe said, lightly elbowing Mikey in the side.

"Yeah, well I got news for you nature boy, crazy man Hatchet next door, he likes wandering those woods too" Casey informed.

"Tell me about it, he siced his pit bull on us this morning" Mikey said.

"He saw you?! For crying out loud Mikey, even I know we're supposed to be keeping a low profile up here!"

"Relax Case man, no one saw me, I'm a ninja remember" Mikey said as he threw a few punches, "Low profile is my middle name"

"And if he did get caught, he would blame it on me" Phoebe said.

"You know I wouldn't want you getting into trouble"

"Trouble's your middle name as well and to those who are around you when it shows up"

There was a sound of an engine running and they peeked around to see a van driving their way and parked in front of the house.

"What's with the armed force vehicle?" Phoebe questioned.

The van parked and a very large woman got out with a gun in her hands, "Let's do this Parker!" the woman shouted.

The woman walked to the other side and some kind of flying sphere came out and floated out in front of the woman.

"Welcome adventure seekers, to another action packed episode of The Monster Hunter" the woman said.

"Monster hunter?" Mikey questioned.

"Once again, I, Dr. Abigail Finn, am close to bagging a mysterious creature, the legendary Green Man of the woods"

"Green Man?" Casey questioned, "Oh no"

"Like the Yeti, sasquatch and big foot-"

"Whoa whoa, hold it, hold up, cut, stop the cameras lady!" Casey called out, blocking the view of the camera, then turned to Abigail, "This is private property"

Abigail grabbed Casey's hand and twisted it behind his back, "Sir, what can you tell our viewers about the resent sightings of the Green Man in these woods beyond your home?"

"Look lady, you got to go!" Casey shouted as he got out of her grip, "There's nothing out in those woods except, uh, woods, now come on!"

"There's a monster out there and I got proof, Parker, let's go to the video tape" Abigail said and walked back towards her van and a screen came up from the side of the van and showed a video of Mikey being chased away by a dog, "This footage was taken in the forest behind your house by one of your neighbors just this morning; what do you have to say now bub?"

"Uh…oh boy"

"Are you sure you don't want to change your statement? Exactly what is it you're trying to hide?" Abigail questioned, grabbing the front of Casey's jacket.

"Mikey- uh, that is, uhhh-"

"Ahem" April coughed as she came out, "Hi there, don't mind him, he's kind of the village idiot"

"Hey, wait a-"

"My names April; and you are?"

"I am Dr. Abigail Finn, monster hunter, perhaps-"

Mikey and Phoebe were backing up to go to the backyard, then Mikey felt a tap on his head and he jumped a little, then he looked up to see Donnie.

"Donatello, give me a heart attack why don't you!" Mikey complained.

"Don't tempt me lame-brain; do you have any idea who that is out there?" Donnie questioned and Mikey shrugged, "That's Dr. Abigail Finn, brilliant technologist, gifted biologist"

"Sounds like your type brainiac"

"Who's brainiac's type?" Winter questioned as she came up from behind and leaned on top of Donnie's head.

"N-nobody" Donnie answered a little nervously, "She's also a certifiable lunatic, goes around hunting monsters"

"She ever find any?"

"Not yet, but the way she's drooling over that video of you, you may get to be her first" Donnie said.

"She's real buff for a woman" Phoebe said.

"You're telling me, I wonder why she goes out looking for monsters" Winter said.

"I don't know, but she's super crazy about it" Donnie said.

Once the van left, Mikey and Phoebe went back in the house to confront Splinter about the problem.

"I say we go after that video tape" Mikey suggested.

"Maybe this crazy Dr. Monster person will just give up and go away" April said.

"Dr. Abigail Finn doesn't give up, if she can't find what she's looking for out there, she'll come looking in here, she's obsessed with monster hunting" Donnie said.

"I admire her determination, but there's a limit to most things" Phoebe said.

"Those who become obsessed are often their own worst enemy" Splinter said.

While everyone was inside, figuring out what they should do about the 'monster hunter', Leo and Raph were in the barn.

"Hey guys" The boys turned to see Viola come in.

"Where have you been?" Raph asked.

"I've been out, then when I came back, there was some lady running around looking for some green man of the woods" Viola informed.

"Mikey" Leo and Raph sighed.

"Yeah, so I came to just give you a heads up, just in case she comes by, so watch each other, I'm gonna head back to the house to hold it down there" Viola said, then left.

Mikey and Donnie were in the tree, spying on Abigail as she went out to the woods while her assistant Parker stayed in the van.

"What'd she say?" Mikey asked as he chewed on some nuts.

"I couldn't hear her because somebody was crunching pistachios nuts in my ear" Donnie scolded.

"What?" Mikey questioned and poured the rest of the nuts in his mouth.

Donnie face palmed himself and shook his head, then he and Mikey jumped down and while Donnie locked Parker inside, Mikey went into the back.

"Now, if I was a video tape, where would I hide?" Mikey questioned.

"Mikey, get out of there!" Donnie called out and climbed in the back with him, "For all we know, this thing could be a-" A siren started to sound and the back doors closed and locked, "A trap"

The truck then started to fill up with some kind of mist.

"Um, oops"

The truck was starting to get colder and colder by the second.

"Is it getting really cold in here, or is it just me?" Mikey shivered.

"It's liquid nitrogen, instant deep freeze"

"Hey, I'm a turtle, I'm already cold blooded"

"You'll be ice blooded if we don't get out of here"

The boys tried their best to bust the door open, but it was rock solid and the turtles were being covered in frost.

"We got fifteen seconds before we become turtle-sicles!" Donnie said.

"It won't budge, and I think my butt's getting freezer burn! You're the brains of this operation Donnie, come up with something!"

Donnie looked at the tanks, then he grabbed his staff and placed it behind the tank and pulled at it until it broke and the liquid nitrogen froze the door.

"Mikey, now, the door!" Donnie said.

They jumped and kicked open the doors.

"Brain freeze" Mikey shivered.

"Come on, we have to go!" Donnie said and they ran back to the house.

Winter and Phoebe were waiting on the porch for Mikey and Donnie to return, and when they did, they were shocked to see them covered in frost.

"What happen?" Phoebe asked as she and Winter rushed over to the turtles.

"We got trapped in a liquid nitrogen tank" Donnie answered.

"You poor guys" Winter said.

The girls lead the turtles inside and sat them near the fireplace with blankets and a tub of warm water for their feet.

"I can't believe you bozos walked right into a trap" Casey said.

"I believe it" Splinter said.

"All I know is it's a good thing the green man's not real, if that Dr. Finn ever got her hands on him, achoo!" Donnie sneezed.

"That's it, little miss monster hunter is still out there hunting the green man, right? She wants green men, we'll give her some, serious butt kicking ninja green men, I have a plan" Mikey said.

"And coming from you, it's a crazy plan" Winter teased.

"Where's Viola this time?" Phoebe questioned as she came down the stairs.

"Yeah, and Sara's missing too" April informed.

"I'm sure they're around, let's just carry out the plan" Mikey said.

After a few hours, Mikey, Donnie and Casey were wandering the woods looking for Abigail.

"Mikey, _this _is your plan?" Donnie questioned.

"Yeah, this is crazy, and these leaves are itching me all over" Casey complained.

"Come on, we look great, just follow my lead" Mikey said.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is just gonna make things worse" Donnie said.

When the guys saw Abigail, Donnie made a noise, then Mikey jumped out from the bush, then Donnie jumped out as well, acting like a monster; then Casey jumped out from behind of her and shouted 'goongala'. But Abigail aimed her gun at him and shot out a net the captured him.

"I got one, Parker, alert the media, I want a press conference at dawn, by then I'll have the other two!" Abigail ordered and pulled her knife out.

As she was making her way towards Mikey, he picked up a log and threw it at her, but she jumped out of the way and it hit one of the floating cameras, but then she sent the other two after Donnie.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Donnie shouted as he ran.

As he was running, he had to dodge the lasers that the spheres were shooting at him.

Mikey ran over to Casey, who was still struggling in the net, "Goongala?"

"Just get me out of here!" Casey shouted.

While Mikey pulled the net off of Casey, Donnie took out the other two cameras.

"The look on your face when she netted you, priceless!" Mikey laughed.

"Haha, at least we taught that loony doctor not to mess with the green men" Casey said.

There was a roar echoing through the woods.

"You can quit the howling Donnie, Dr. Freakenstien went off in the other direction" Mikey called out.

"That wasn't me" Donnie said when he came out from behind.

Mikey gasped when he saw a giant green furry monster behind of Donnie, "Donnie, right behind you!" Mikey called out.

Donnie turned and screamed when he saw the monster, "The green man, he's-he's real?" Donnie questioned in fright.

Donnie backed up from the monster, then it sniffed the air and got closer to Mikey and started to sniff at him.

"Hey there, you smell these?" Mikey said as he pulled out some pistachio nuts from his bag and held it for the monster, "You want some pistachios?" The 'green man' ate the nuts and started to purr, "What a smart thing you are, what a smart green man monster" Mikey cooed as he petted the monster and feed it more nuts.

"So you met up with the 'green man'?" a voice called out.

The boys turned to see Viola and Sara come out from the woods and then monster went over to them and rubbed it's head against Viola.

"You've known about this and you haven't said anything?" Casey questioned.

"Since this morning when I went out for a small stroll, I came across him and it approached me, then when I went out again to feed him, Sara followed" Viola explained.

"I nearly soiled myself, it was freaky at first, but the 'monster' is so sweet" Sara said, scratching under the monsters chin.

"Can we keep him?" Mikey asked, the monster started to take weird deep breaths, then it howled and freak out, "Easy big fella!" Mikey called out.

There were suddenly more of those spheres flying towards them and it was surrounding the monster.

"It's those orbs, they're upsetting him" Donnie told.

The spheres started to shoot electricity at the monster and it howled in pain; the monster started to swing it's arms around to try and bat at the spheres, but he knocked Mikey down.

"What do we do?" Sara shouted.

But before anyone could do anything, the monster started to run off, knocking Donnie and Casey down.

"That thing packs a wallop" Donnie groaned.

"Come on, we've got to save the big green dude" Mikey said as he chased after him.

The others soon followed behind quickly, but when they caught up, they saw that the monster was near Abigail's van. The back door opened up and the monster seemed to have no choice but to go in.

"NO!" Mikey shouted.

"What do we do, that poor creature's in the psychos van" Sara questioned.

"Casey and I will get that poor creature out of there, Viola and Sara can grab the video tape of Mikey strolling through the woods and Mikey, you have the pleasure of keeping Dr. Finn busy" Donnie explained.

Mikey went off to find Abigail and when he did, she was making her way towards the van, so Mikey tripped her. Mikey then climbed up in the trees while Abigail tried to find whatever tripped her, then Mikey swung down and took her gun.

"Parker, Parker, there's another one out here with me, hunting me, do you copy?" Abigail said.

Donnie and Casey had soon freed the creature and disabled the cameras in the back, then when Parker went out to check on the monster, Viola and Sara went in and took the video. Soon after, Donnie and the girls went out and searched for Mikey and when they snuck up on him, he screamed.

"Donnie, where's the big green dude?" Mikey asked.

"Relax Mikey, it's all taken care of" Donnie said as they all went back to the house.

When morning came, Mikey, Donnie, Viola, Sara and Phoebe were in the woods, watching the whole thing happen.

"Today, I, Dr. Abigail Finn, have captured a creature so rare, it was believed to be only a myth; behold, the greatest scientific discovery of all time, I give you, the legendary green man!"

Parker had opened the back door to show everyone, but then Casey came up, who was still in his disguise.

"Yo, help, save me from this crazy lady!" Casey called out.

Everyone began laughing.

"I can't believe you put Casey in there" Phoebe laughed.

"You're the monster lady, she chased me through the woods all night long, she's loony I tell you, she's the one who should be locked up" Casey said.

The reporters were soon surrounding Abigail, hammering her with questions.

"Donatello, you sly turtle" Mikey said, then he and Donnie high-threed, "What about the big green dude?"

"Safe and sound" Donnie said, pointing towards it, then two little green babies came running towards it, "And just for the record, the green man's a she, a mother"

"That is so cute" Phoebe cooed.

"I hope they'll be ok" Viola said.

"I'm sure they'll be, I mean, they managed to live here for this long without being detected, she's smart" Sara said.

They all soon headed back to the house where April, Winter and Splinter were hanging out on the porch, watching as Mikey tore out the tape from the video, then he saw that Casey was coming their way.

"See Sensei, I told you the green man was real" Mikey said and they all laughed a little.

"Hey Casey, what kept you?" Donnie asked.

"Those reports were even more vicious than that crazy doctor, they'll be making fun of Dr. Finn for months" Casey laughed.

"I feel a little sorry for her" Viola said.

"You feel sorry for everyone" Phoebe pointed out.

"But that's her good quality" Winter said.

"Guys!" Raph called out as he approached them, "Hey guys, come around back, there's someone I want you to meet"Everyone soon followed Raph to the barn and he opened the doors.

"Allow me to introduce you to Leonardo, new and improved"

Leo came out and he had two new katana blades, "Uh, hey everyone" Leo greeted.

Sara smirked, then she placed her fingers in her mouth and gave a wolf whistle, "Looking good Leonardo!"

Leo blushed while the girls laughed and Raph smirked and nudged Leo, then everyone came up, saying that they were glad to have Leo back.

"Guys, I think it's time we returned to New York and finish our business with the Shredder, once and for all" Leo said, then all his brothers raised their weapons together and cheered.


	16. Lone Raph and Cub

**Ok, I want to say sorry about skipping the major battle with the turtles and Shredder, but I felt that the girls can't be involved with the Shredder just yet because they're still new and a bit inexperience with fighting people who know ninjutsu and Viola doesn't want to be involved with the Shredder in anyway, so she didn't go into the fight, so sorry about skipping the episodes**

Things were real hectic when the turtles, the girls, April and Casey returned to New York to fight the Shredder. The turtles and Splinter infiltrated Shredders lair and while in there, they fought the invisible Foot, three mutant Shredder look-a-likes, fighting Foot Mystics, the Foot Elite, Hun and Baxter Stockman in a massive exo-suit before they finally battled against the Shredder.

The battle ended in the turtles favor with Leo decapitating Shredder and destroying his lair with the Sword of Tengu. But when they tried to get to Splinter, who was injured when he held the Sword of Tengu to defeat the Foot Mystics, they found that he disappeared.

They were frantic to find him, but he was nowhere to be seen. Raph was taking his frustration out by training. After training for a while, he finally stopped to take a breather. But he got angry again and screamed as he hit the wooden training equipment, getting everyone to look at him.

"You ok Raph?" Leo asked worriedly.

"How can you sit around talking when he's out there somewhere?!" Raph shouted, "Maybe hurt! Bad!"

"Like I said, we have to organize the search, look at everything we know"

"But we don't know anything!"

"Well, we know that when we were fighting The Shredder, Master Splinter took a major hit, for me" Mikey spoke.

"When we looked for him after the fight, he just wasn't there" Donnie said.

"I've been scanning the police ban for anything like a giant rat sighting" April said as she walked over and leaned against the table grimly, "Nothing"

"So we should be out there looking for him!" Raph said and was making his way towards the exit.

"We have been Raph, but Master Splinter could be anywhere" Leo said as he chased after him, "How do you search an entire city?"

"One block at a time" Raph said as walked over to a stuffed training wall to grab his sais.

"Raph!" Mikey called out, "Not a good time for the hothead thing"

"The battle shell's a couple hours away from being street ready after the beating it took" Donnie informed, "We can cover more ground"

"It's ok" Leo said, "Go blow off some steam Raph, maybe you'll find something out there"

"Count on it" Raph said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Wait a minute Raph!" Phoebe called out as she rushed over to him, she had grabbed her purse on her way to him and then pulled out a piece of paper and pencil and written something on it before handing it to him, "While you're up there, see if you can stop by this place"

Raph looked at the paper and saw that it was an address, "What for?"

"Just trust me, you'll need it"

Raph just groaned and placed the paper in his belt before he left. Raph was soon rapidly running and jumping across the roof tops, grumbling to himself about how the others are just sitting and searching rather than going out and searching for themselves.

And while he was searching, he had jumped on top of a truck to get a quicker look around and he spotted something in an alleyway and thought that it was Splinter. He jumped off the truck and made his way to the alleyway, but when he got a closer look, he saw that it was only a pile of trash, which only made him angrier.

"MASTER SPLINTER, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Raph shouted out loudly.

"Raph?" Someone calling his name startled him slightly and he looked up to see Viola standing on the fire escape. She made her way down and stood in front of him, "What are you doing shouting out like that? The neighbors could have heard and seen you"

Raph was panting to catch his breath, "I-I was... I thought" Raph looked down at the pile of trash.

Viola placed a hand on his shoulder, "We're all worried, but running around recklessly will only cause more problems. Come on, let's just take a walk so you can think straight"

Raph nodded and the both of them were back on top of the roof tops. After a few minutes of jumping from roof to roof, they heard a crashing noise just down an alley across from them. Then they saw some people coming down the alleyway with flashlights.

"Hello, what do we have here?" Raph said.

As they continued to look down, they saw that the men were tossed some things around.

"What are they looking for?" Viola questioned.

"Let's try and get a closer look" Raph said.

The both of them made their way across a few roof tops before they jumped down to the alleyway and hid behind some trashcans. When one of the men finished looking through a dumpster and was walking away, the lid was lifted back up and a little boy was peeking out.

"Need I remind you what will happen if we fail to recapture our quarry?" a man said in a squeaky, high pitched voice, "Find him!"

"He ain't here" another man said.

"Then try the next alley!"

The men had begun to left and the little kid was lifting the lid high to get out.

"No kid, stay down" Raph said.

But lifting the lid had caused a lamp to fall and break, giving away his hiding place and the men came running back as he hid again.

"Come out, come out where ever you are" the man with the squeaky voice called out.

But the kid had accidently made the mistake of lifting the lid again to peek out.

"No kid, no, stay down!" Raph said.

"Time to stop playing hide and seek kid" the man said as he shined his flashlight around the alley.

Raph had drawn his sais and jumped out before Viola could stop him and landing in front of the men.

"How's about it's your turn to hide!" Raph said, "I'll give you to three. One"

"Whoa" the man laughed, "Wrong time of the year for Halloween, freak"

"Two" Raph continued.

"Ok boys, time to peel this guy out of his monster suit" the other men in black suits began to surround Raph.

"Three!" Raph jumped out at them and the fight broke out. Raph had easily defeated them as he dodged their weapons and stood in front of the rest that were still standing. "Don't be shy boys, there's plenty for everybody"

"What are you?" the man questioned.

"I am green vengeance" Raph said.

"Green vengeance, what?"

Everyone had heard a snort and they looked back down the alleyway where Viola was still hiding and the man closer to her moved the trashcans out of the way to expose her. The man grabbed her arm and hoisted her up to her feet, but she had grabbed a trashcan lid and slammed it against the man's head and she rushed over to stand beside of Raph.

"Alright, never mind. Don't like green huh? How about black and blue?"

"Get them!" the man shouted and two men stepped forward.

Since Viola still had the trashcan lid, she tossed it and it smashed into the two guys, bounced off a wall and came right back at her and she caught it easily. The other men that were knocked down were back up and got back into the fight.

Raph kicked one of the guys across the alley and then swung a door open to smash it at the man that was coming at him. Raph jumped away from three of the men that were advancing on him and looked up at the sign that was hanging above them. He threw his sais at the sign and it fell down, causing the men to jump and fall away from it. As Raph went to pick his sais up, the men got up and ran away.

"Come on, it's just getting started" Raph taunted.

"I think it's best for it to end before it started" Viola said as she tossed the trashcan lid on the ground.

"That was pretty sweet how you tossed the lid around" Raph complimented.

"Well, it's pretty obvious since what my ancestry tree is"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot"

"The kid!" Viola exclaimed when she almost forgot.

The two then walked closer to the dumpster.

"Kid, it's ok, we won't bite" Raph called out gently, "We're one of the good guys, honest" The kid then lifted the lid, "Come on, let's get you out of there, don't be scared" the kid jumped out of the dumpster to stand in front of the two, "What's your name?" the kid didn't say anything and Raph lowered himself a bit to get at the kids level, "Well?" The kid looked at him for a bit before he punched Raph in the face, Viola winced slightly.

"Cute" Raph groaned as he rubbed his sore snout, "Real cute. Now just calm down" the kid then punched Raph in the face again, "Ow! Man, I hate kids"

"Raph" Viola scolded lightly.

"He keeps punching me in the face!" Raph defended, then looked back at the kid, "Ok, so we're past the scared part"

Just when the kid was about to punch Raph again, Viola had snatched his hand as it was barely a centimeter from Raph's face.

"Listen, just calm down, we just want some answers" Viola said in a calm tone as she kneeled down to the kid's level.

The kid looked at her before he finally spoke, "What's your name?"

"I'm Viola and this is Raphael" Viola answered.

"So kid, what'd you do to tick off those goons?" Raph asked.

"Don't call me kid! I'm Tyler, I can handle this myself, turtle"

"Fine, don't tell me; I'm in the middle of something else right no anyway. We're just gonna get you to some place safe and then we're out of here"

"I think the police station would be the best place" Viola said.

When they turned around, they saw that Tyler had run off.

"Oh great, just great!" Raph groaned.

Tyler had continued to run and when he had looked back, he had ran into Raph and fell to the ground.

"You can't sneak away from a ninja kid" Raph said.

"Leave me alone!" Tyler shouted.

"And you can't go messing with those mob goons on your own, you're just a kid! You're gonna get hurt!"

"I told you, don't call me kid! And you're not the boss of me!"

"Oh yeah?" Raph questioned as he lowered himself to Tyler's level.

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah!"

Viola rolled her eyes are Raph's childish response, shaking her head. Raph had picked Tyler up and they all started to walk through the alleyways before they made it to the police station.

"There's the police station" Raph said and set Tyler on the ground, "For obvious reasons, I can't go in there and neither can she because we have important matters to attend to. Tell them where you live and they'll get you home"

"But-"

"Get going!" Raph interrupted, "And no funny stuff, we're right here watching"

Tyler walked across the street and was making his way up the stairs to the police station, but he had looked back and Raph motioned him to get inside. Once Tyler was inside the two turned around to walk down the alley.

"Ah kids" Raph groaned.

"Something feels off about what's going on between Tyler and those mob people that are after him" Viola said.

"Something tells me that we're gonna have to ask him" Raph said as he looked back to see Tyler come out of the police station.

As Tyler was running down a different alleyway, Raph grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Tell me what's going on with you or I'm gonna keep taking you back all night! And I'm gonna get more honked off every time" Raph shouted.

"Raph, he's just a little boy, you don't yell at him to get answers!" Viola scoled, making Raph put Tyler down and she kneeled down in front of him, "Look, just tell us what those mob people want with you, maybe there's a way we could help you out"

"...Ok" Tyler said, "It started today after school, I got my homework done so my sitter let me watch my favorite movie of all time. Then my mom came home, she was real happy, she's a reporter and she got a tape recording of a bad guy that was gonna put him in jail, and she was gonna be famous. But I guess the bad guys found out about the tape and they wanted it real bad, but mom knew they'd get rid of us if she gave it to them, so she didn't. She told me I had to be brave; she gave me the tape and told me to run. And that's pretty much when you two showed up"

"You're not making this up; they really got your mom?" Raph asked as he stood up.

"Yeah, and I'm going back and kick all their butts" Tyler said as he threw a kick in the air.

"Bad idea" Raph said, "Look kid-" Tyler made a face at him, "Uh, Tyler; look, if your story is true, we promise we'll get your mom out, but first we've got to get you to a safe place"

"No way, you're not dumping me!"

"Oh, what does it take to get through to you, it's way too dangerous, you wanna get-" Tyler's eyes started to overflow with tears and he started to cry a little and that made Raph soften up a bit. "Look, Tyler, I... I know how you feel, my dad's missing, I-I was out there trying to find him, when I found you"

"Really?"

"Really"

"Aww, this is truly touching" a familiar squeaky voice spoke out and they looked to see the guys from awhile ago standing across from them, "Is the poor little freak missing his daddy?"

Suddenly, a trashcan lid was thrown at the guys face and it knocked him down.

"Nice shot" Raph said to Viola.

"I did do it for you" Viola said, looking down the other end to see even more mob goons there, blocking their only way out.

Raph drew his sais and Viola took a stance as the mobs advanced on them.

"Hand him over, now" the man demanded as he stood up to his feet.

"Come and get me creepo!" Tyler egged on and stepped away from Raph, "I'll kick their butts!"

Viola grabbed Tyler before he could get any closer to them.

"Babysit him for a bit while I deal with these goons" Raph said as he placed the two behind him as the mob charged at them.

Raph was easily blocking the men's attacks and knocking them back. But as he was fighting them, the other guy had reached into his jacket and pulled out a small device, pressing a button on it and tossed it at Tyler and Viola. Raph rushed and jumped in front of them and the device exploded. As the smoke cleared, Raph was on the ground coughing as Viola held Tyler to her to block him from the explosion.

"Raph, oh my god, are you ok?" Viola asked worriedly as they all stood up.

"I'm fine, I'm alright" Raph said as he rubbed his eyes, but then he noticed something was wrong, "Ok, we got a problem, I can't see a thing!"

Viola and Tyler looked worriedly at Raph before looking at the rest of the mob gang as the closed in on them.

"Kid, Viola, where are you?" Raph called out as he rubbed his eyes, "I'm dizzy and I can't see, I'm blind!"

"We're right behind you" Viola said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We have to get out of here" Raph said as he reached behind him and picked Tyler up.

"If you run straight, there's a skinny guy dead ahead" Tyler said.

Raph had started to charge to the guys, but they had moved out of the way.

"Whoa, watch out!" Tyler warned, "Turn that way!"

"Which way 'that way'?!" Raph questioned, but he had then ran right into the brick wall.

"That was the wall" Tyler said as Raph rubbed his aching head.

"I needed to knock that one second earlier" Raph groaned.

"They're coming at us, come on!" Viola called out and grabbed Raph's hand to lead him away from the gang.

As they were running away from the mob, Viola saw a fire escape ladder down.

"There's a fire escape, we can climb up it!" Viola said as she placed Raph's hand on the ladder.

Raph placed Tyler on his back and he started to climb up with Viola right behind them and they made it to the top of the building.

"Where's this thing bolted to the wall?" Raph asked.

"Here" Tyler said as he placed Raph's hand on the bolt.

"Ok, you and Viola go up first" Raph instructed as he placed his sai on the bolt.

Raph pulled the bolt out of the wall and started to climb up the ladder and then kicked at the fire escape and it all came crashing down. They all soon began to run across the roof tops before they stopped once they knew they were at a safe place and rested.

"So you can't see anything?" Viola asked as she placed her hands on Raph's head and made him look at her so she could see his eyes.

"Not a thing, everything's all blurry" Raph said.

"Then you're going to be fine, you're vision should come back soon"

"But for now, I'm as blind as a bat"

"Come on" Tyler said as he grabbed Raph's hand and started to lead him somewhere.

"Hey Tyler, where're you taking us kid?" Raph questioned.

"Just a little further" Tyler said and they all stopped at the edge of a building overlooking a warehouse, "This is it, this is the place where they got my mom"

"Ok, tell me everything you're seeing" Raph asked.

"Uh, I see a couple of goons whose butts I'm gonna kick"

Tyler was about to run off, but Raph grabbed him, "Whoa there quick draw, you better take a breath and think before you act; you can't just go storming off like a hot head"

"Like you" Viola teased as she laughed a little.

"Yeah, listen to me, hot head"

"What?" Tyler asked in confusion.

"Nah, just something my brothers were trying to tell me"

Tyler went back to the ledge and looked through a window, "Hey Raph, look!"

"I can't look, talk to Viola about seeing things"

"There she is, it's mom, I gotta get down there" Tyler was beginning to run off.

"Ty, wait up here, we'll-"

"I'm not waiting here, I can't; I promised her, I promised I'd come back for her, I promised"

"Ok alright" Raph said, "But we do this together, you're gonna have to be my eyes and Viola, you'll have my back"

"When don't I?" Viola said.

"And no steering me into walls this time right?" Raph said to Tyler.

"Yeah, right" Tyler agreed.

"We got to get our signals straight first, here's what we do"

After Raph explained the plan, they snuck in through the window and dropped down to the floor. Viola grabbed Raph's hand and leads him to hide behind some boxes.

Raph then stepped out, "My advice, give up now; save yourself a world of hurt" The two thugs laughed and backed up as more of the gang came out and then the man dressed differently stepped out.

"Hey, I should thank you for making things so easy, we just had to wait and you brought the kid right to us. We got him boss!" A very large man then stepped out from the crowd.

"So this is the costume freak who caused me so much trouble" the man said as he removed his jacket, "And he brought his tiny girlfriend to the party. You know what I do to people who cause me trouble?"

"You eat them?" Viola taunted.

"No! I make them pay, personally"

"Talk to me kid, where is he?" Raph asked as he was looking around.

"You're blind as a bat" the man laughed and then punched Raph hard, knocking him back on his shell. Viola and Tyler helped him back up.

"Raph, just let me fight him, protect Tyler" Viola said.

"No, let me have some pride, I'll handle the goons and keep you out of harm's way" Raph said as he went back into the fight, "Now kid, now!"

"Two o'clock!" Tyler called out when the large man approached Raph.

Raph ducked the man's punch and then kicked him back, but he was soon coming at him again.

"Five o'clock!" Raph kicked at the guy again, "Tuck and roll!"

Raph did what he was told and kicked the guy in the back.

"Somebody shut that kid up!" the man shouted as he started to break out in a sweat.

"Three o'clock!" Tyler was grabbed from behind by the skinny man as he placed his hand over his mouth.

"Let him go!" Viola shouted as she ran and kicked them guy back. But she was then surrounded by more of the goons.

"Kid! Viola!" Raph called out, but he was then punched down.

"All that karate stuff don't mean nothing if you can't see" the man said as he towered over Raph and the crowd cheered.

"Viola, what's happening?" Raph called out again, but was then kicked back.

"I'm surrounded!" Viola shouted as she fought against the gang.

One of the men with a chain threw it at her, but she managed to grab it and then tossed the guy into a few others. As Viola was fending off the mob, Raph was taking a lot of hits. Viola then grabbed Tyler and pushed her way through the crowd and let Tyler get closer to the fight as she was pushed back into the circle.

"One o'clock!" Tyler called out.

Raph then struck back and hit the man in the stomach.

"Seven o'clock!" Raph punched and kicked the guy again. "Three o'clock!" Raph kicked the man. "One o'clock!" Raph repeated kicked the guy as Tyler kept calling out 'one' before he was finally knocked down. The fight with Viola had stopped momentarily when everyone was shocked to see their boss knocked down.

"Don't just stand there! Get him!" the man commanded.

Viola jumped out of her fight and rushed over to Raph and grabbed his hand as Tyler followed them.

"Flip these over!" Tyler said as he lead Raph to a stack of crates.

Raph and Viola grabbed onto the bottom of the crate and pushed it, causing it collapse onto the mob.

"I think they got my mom in here" Tyler said as he lead Raph to a door, "But there's a big lock on the door we have to break, then we can-"

"Tyler, one sec" Raph interrupted and kneeled down to his level, "It might not be the best thing for your mom to see a big green turtle right now, you promised _you'd_ come back for her. Now go ahead and get her pal"

"But, what about you two?"

"We'll follow you out, but remember, head straight for the police station"

"Got it"

"Hey, we did pretty good for a couple of hot heads"

Tyler smiled and hugged Raph, then Viola. Raph used his sai and picked the lock on the door and it opened up, revealing Tyler's mom strapped to a chair.

"Mom!" Tyler cried out as he entered the room while Raph and Viola hid behind the door.

"You did pretty good hot head" Viola praised with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess I did" Raph said.

Once Tyler and his mom were out of the room, he closed the door and started to rub his eyes.

"Hey, I can see again" Raph said.

"That's great!" Viola exclaimed happily.

They both looked over and saw that the mob was making their way over the wreckage and the snuck their way around. When they made it around, Raph had tapped on the skinny man's shoulder and he turned around, but he had a smirk on his face.

"Well, if it ain't Mr. Blind, green and ugly" the man taunted.

"You got some never talking about ugly pal, wearing a tie like that" Raph said.

"Wai- y-you can see?" the man said nervously.

"I can see, though looking at you, I'm already kind of missing the blind thing" The man felt another tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see Viola standing behind him.

"For your information, I'm not tiny, I'm petite" Viola said, then jumped up and kicked the man into the crates and causing it to crash on top of the rest of the gang.

"Nice roundhouse" Raph complimented.

"Thanks, it's the first time I hit somebody out of anger and spite"

"Liberating, isn't it?"

Viola tucked her bangs behind her ear and laughed a little, "Yeah, it is a little. I think you're hot headedness is rubbing off on me"

"It's not bad all the time"

"It is when it's in yours or Casey's hands"

"Come on, let's go catch up with Tyler, maybe you can say more jokes like that"

Viola chuckled a little and shook her head and the both of them ran out of the building and caught up with Tyler and his mom and followed them until they made it back to the police station.

They watched from the roof top across of the police station as Tyler handed his mom the tape he had held onto and then he looked up at them and Raph gave his a thumbs up while Viola waved at him. When his mom looked up where Tyler was looking, they were already gone and the both of them walked into the police station.

"Do you still hate kids?" Viola teased.

Raph chuckled a little, "I think they're growing on me"

Viola stretched her arms out and sighed, "I didn't think tonight would be hectic after the Shredder was gone, but I shouldn't underestimate the situation when it comes involving myself with you guys"

"I know, everyday is a practically a fight, whether it's between us or them" Raph said, then he had remembered something, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot"

"Forgot what?" Viola asked as she watch Raph pull out a piece of paper from his belt.

"Phoebe gave me this address before I left the lair" Raph said as he unfolded the paper.

Viola stood beside him and looked at the address as well, "Wait, that's my address"

"What?"

"That's my apartment address. Why would she give you this?"

Raph started to think why as well, but he soon found out that the reason she gave him the address is because she, and practically everyone else, knew that Viola was the only one to help Raph calm down, even when she didn't have to say anything to him.

"It's probably nothing" Raph said, placing the paper back in his belt, "Let's go home"

Viola was a little skeptical about letting the situation go, but she did just for tonight and Raph had taken her home before he went back home as well.


	17. The Search for Splinter Part 1

The turtles and girls were still frantic in trying to find Splinter, but to no avail. Now everyone was down in the lair once again, wondering where they should look next.

"Ok" April said as she looked over a map, "We've searched Shredders building and every other place the Foot have been encountered, we've scowered every sewer tunnel, back street and dark alley in the city, with only one area left"

"The worst part is, we don't know if master Splinter is still..." Donnie started, but trailed off, not wanting to say the worst case scenario.

"I-I don't even want to think about that" Mikey said as he twirled his nunchakus around.

"Until we learn otherwise, he's alive and awaiting our rescue" Leo said as he placed his sword in his sheaths.

Raph was at the punching bag, pummeling it, then he took his sais our and sliced the bag open.

"I'm done coming home empty handed!" Raph growled in frustration, "We find Splinter, tonight!"

The turtles, girls and April split up to look again; Mikey was searching the sewers, Raph was recklessly driving around the streets, Donnie was searching in the sky, the girls and April were in the Battle Shell and Leo was on foot, looking through the abandoned buildings.

Leo's Shellcell rang and he picked it up, "Please tell me someone found something?"

"Nada from the sewers" Mikey informed.

"Nothing on the roofs either" Donnie said.

"Or the junk yard" April said, "Lots of rats, but none of them ours"

"Man, where is he?" Raph questioned angrily.

"Keep it cool Raph" Leo advised, "We'll find him"

Raph stopped for a second and spotted a Purple Dragon taking a man out of his car and driving off; Raph raced after him, which was a little difficult when the Purple Dragon kept causing hazards to lose Raph. But then Raph jumped on top of the car and stabbed the battery, making the car stop. Then Raph dragged the Purple Dragon out and was about to punch him, but his brothers showed up.

"Let him go Raph" Leo said.

Raph let the Dragon go and he ran off.

"Raphael, this doesn't help anything" Leo said.

"Helps more than you think!" Raph shouted and threw his helmet on the ground hard.

"Wish we had Viola here" Mikey whispered to Donnie, then spoke out loud, "Got to admit, dude knows how to blow off steam"

"Maybe, but if we're gonna find Master Splinter, we have to keep a lid on it" Leo advised.

"Well prowling around ain't cutting it anymore Leo, we need something to go on" Raph said.

"What about the Guardians?" Donnie suggested, "If you think about it, right after Splinter disappeared, they disappeared"

"Yeah, hey, they could've taken him easy" Mikey said.

"Somehow, we need to hook up with one of those guys" Raph said.

"Raph, looks like we might have something to go on" Leo said.

The turtles heard a weird noise and looked back to see the Battle Shell coming their way, then April opened the door up.

"Sorry, after your patch job on this rig, even my grandma's tractor handles better" April said, but then a police siren was sounding near, "Come on guys, cops are combing the neighborhood"

"Maybe I should drive" Donnie suggested.

"That would be of best interest for everyone" Winter said.

"Nah, I think I'm getting the hang of it" April said.

"Everyone, buckle up tight" Sara said once everyone was inside.

When they drove off, it was real rough; later that night, the turtles placed a dummy Shredder and it brought in one of the Guardians, when they asked for answers, the Guardian wouldn't give them any, so they placed a tracking device on his sword to track where he might go, to where they might be holding Splinter. The turtles began chase for the Guardian and he was running at an alarming rate, then when they were looking down an alleyway where the Guardian took off in, it was empty.

"He's not here" Leo said.

"It appears his signal disappeared right across the street" Donnie informed.

When they made it down the alleyway, they saw a building of where the signal disappeared.

"It's just an office building" Leo said.

"So was Shredders, and that place nearly took us out" Raph said.

"But why would he go in there?" Donnie questioned.

"To have his taxes done" Mikey joked.

Donnie set his bag down and took out a small shell like device, "Let's find out for sure"

April brought the Battle Shell along and Donnie controlled the turtle cam from there as it crept around the building.

"Now, let's see what's behind door number one" Donnie said as he moved the turtle cam towards one of the doors.

But then the turtle cam was suddenly starting to spin out of control and Donnie tried to regain it.

"Whoa, I'm getting car sick" Mikey said.

"Sometime later Chuckles" Phoebe said.

The turtle cam finally stopped and the camera was pointing up to the logo.

"Uh, guys, here's a new wrinkle" Donnie said.

"I don't get it" Raph said.

"Techno Cosmic Research Institute"

"So?" Leo asked.

"Yeah" Raph said.

"Huh?" Mikey questioned.

"Say the first letter in each word" Donnie informed.

"What? TCRI, sorry, it's not ringing any-" Mikey stopped mid-sentence when he finally figured it out, "Bells"

"TCRI" Raph said, "That's the-the"

"The-the" Mikey said then.

"The what?" April asked frustratingly, "Tell us"

"TCRI was printed on the canister of ooze that mutated us in what we are" Leo explained.

"The secret to our origin could very well lie within the walls of that building" Donnie said.

"This is better than any mystery book I've ever read" Phoebe muttered.

"How can a Techno Cosmic Research Institute be related to creating you guys?" Winter questioned.

"We'll just have to find out, won't we?" Donnie said and started to move the turtle cam, "Ok, let's snoop around"

As he was trying to move the turtle cam, he looked over to see everyone crowding him.

"Uh, you guys are sucking the oxygen right out of my personal space here" Donnie informed.

They said sorry and backed up, but then crowded around again once Donnie started to move the turtle cam around until he found the security room.

"Jackpot, the security control room, the brains to their security system"

"Can you look under that door to see what we're up against?" Leo asked.

"I think so"

When Donnie moved the camera under the door, the first thing he saw was some feet heading its way. The door swung open and the turtle cam was out of control again and when it finally stopped, something came by and crushed it.

"Well now what?" April asked.

"Master Splinter might be in there, answers we've been looking for our whole lives might be in there, so that mean, we're going in there" Leo said.

Everyone had soon headed back to the lair to try and concoct a plan to infiltrate the TCRI building.

"Now, what exactly have we found out about TCRI?" Leo said, "April?"

"Ok" April said as she looked TCRI on the internet, "TCRI is a highly successful new technology company that's been around for the past 25 years, and whose head corporate liaison is a Mr. Mortu"

"These are the blueprints summated to the city planners office when the building was constructed" Leo said as some blueprints popped up.

"Looks as boring on the inside as it does on the out" Mikey said as he hung upside down on some rope between Donnie and Raph who were packing for their mission.

"Here's what our cam shell recorded before it became road kill" April said and pulled up the cameras that was at the front desk, "Surveillance cameras cover the perimeter and the roof, all laced with alarm sensors"

"So, what we need is someone smart, capable and techno savvy enough to get in, find the alarm cut off and cut it off" Leo said.

"Me!" Mikey exclaimed as he hung upside down beside of Leo.

"No, April"

"Me?" April exclaimed.

"You'll sneak in past the guard, enter the security control room and deactivate the cameras and alarms"

"O-K"

"Here's a schismatic of some basic security panels you're likely to find inside" Donnie said as he handed April a device.

"Once the alarms are off, you'll contact us on the shellcell and well gain access through the roof ventilation system" Leo informed.

"Makes total sense" April said a little unsurely.

"After we're in, you'll reset the alarm and surveillance cameras and sneak back outside unnoticed" Donnie finished.

"It all rests on your shoulders girl" Mikey said as he hung upside down beside of April, "No pressure"

"Uh-huh, that's all good, there's just a tinny tiny detail of that plan missing" April said, "There's a guard sitting right there!"

"Well be employing an old ninja trick, the art of distraction" Leo said.

"That ain't old, that's modern" Sara said.

The elevator doors opened up and Casey walked in.

"Somebody called for a distraction?" Casey called out as he patted his baseball bat against his hand.

April sighed and placed her hands on her face, "My life is in the hands of a lunatic"

Mikey was suddenly spinning out of control on the ropes and got tangled up, "Somebody want to help me out here?"

"You almost ready in there Viola?" Phoebe called out.

"Almost" Viola called back from another room.

"Why would she be getting ready?" Leo asked.

"Because she's going along with you guys" Sara explained with a monotone voice.

"She's not coming along with us, it's too dangerous" Raph objected.

"She's been in dangerous situations with you guys before, and she's at your level, she can be an asset" Winter said.

"But this is our mission, TCRI is where we'll find answers to _our_ past and Master Splinter" Donnie said.

"Well we all care for master Splinter just as much as you guys, it'll make us feel better if we know that Viola's assisting you guys" Phoebe said.

"And Viola's the one who suggested it, so when she sets her mind to something, you can't stop her" Sara said, "She said that she may have stayed out of the fight with the Shredder when you invaded his lair because she wanted nothing to do with that evil man, but she wants to come on this mission for Master Splinter"

"Ok, I'm ready" Viola said as she stepped in front of everyone and their mouths dropped slightly.

Viola was wearing a traditional black ninja outfit and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, she also had a sheathed sword to her side, she looked like a true ninja warrior.

"Whoa" the turtles gasped.

"You look like a real ninja" Mikey said.

"Yeah, I get that a lot from my aunt, she says that I look like my great grandmother Varuna, the one who create the first kunoichi clan thousands of years ago" Viola explained.

"I'm sure you would make a great leader to your clan" Leo said.

Viola pressed her lips into a line and gave a slight nod.

"I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed one of your swords"

"It's alright; let's get ready to go!"

The turtles parked the Battle Shell and went to the roofs while the other girls stayed in the truck. April had made her way to the desk and asked to speak to Mr. Mortu and just after that, Casey came in to complain about one of TCRI's products, though he almost messed it up at first. But he soon made a distraction and April slipped farther into the building and into the security room. The turtles launched a rope to the building and crossed it with ease to the building.

_"Guys"_ April said over the shellcell, _"This isn't going to work"_

"What's the problem April?" Donnie asked.

_"I don't recognize the technology, nothing makes sense in here; I can't turn off the roof alarm or the cameras"_

"Uh, anybody got a plan B?" Mikey asked.

"April, we'll handle the camera, get the alarm turned off anyway you can" Donnie said.

_"Whatever, don't come whining to me if we get captured and tortured and stuff"_

"Ok, so what are we gonna do about getting a way in once April kills the alarm?" Viola asked.

"We'll figure that out on the way" Donnie said.

_"Guys, you're good to go"_ April said a while later.

"Ok, I've got a plan" Donnie said.

Donnie soon crouched in front of the security camera and used a pigeon puppet to block the camera while Leo took a pick of the roof. Once Leo placed the picture in front of the camera, Donnie moved the pigeon and they all made their way to the ventilation.

"I don't know what bothers me more, that this thing actually works, or that Don carries around a pigeon puppet" Mikey said.

"We should be so lucky that Donnie's weird" Viola joked.

"Didn't think you could do jokes" Raph laughed.

"I didn't have any at those other times Honey" Viola teased.

"Ok kiddies, there's no time for flirting with each other" Mikey said and that got him hit in the head by Raph.

Raph hoped up to the air duct and kicked it open, but when he looked down, he saw that there wasn't a ventilation there.

"Hey, it's a fake, it doesn't go nowhere" Raph said, "What kind of people would put a fake vent on the roof?"

"The kind that want this place to look normal" Donnie said.

"Which makes this place all the more reason to hide Splinter here" Viola said.

"So now what?" Mikey asked.

"We cut through a window" Leo said.

They all put on suction cups and made their way down to one of the windows. But when Donnie used a cutter, it couldn't go through, it didn't even make a scratch.

"Diamond edge blades" Donnie said and removed the device, "And they're not even scratching the surface; this is no ordinary window glass"

"Let me try something" Viola said.

Viola reached for her sword, pulled it out and then held it high up in the air before bringing it down. It didn't do anything, but the sword slipped across the glass and she fell against it.

"Ok, I'm out of ideas" Viola said as she placed her sword back in its sheath.

"We better think of something, cause who knows how long that bat happy idiot in the lobby can keep it up" Raph said as they all began to scale the window.

"Let's hope that they didn't call in a SWAT team to deal with him" Viola said.

_"Uh fellas"_ Casey called out, _"I gotta news flash for ya, things are not what they seem in here" _

"Just keep them busy Casey, how tough can a couple of guards be?" Raph said.

"I have a bad feeling you guys" Viola said.

"April, the roof and the windows are a no go" Donnie said.

_"You want another way in? No problem, this thing's a piece of cake"_ April said, _"...Here we go, there's some kind of exhaust opening on the west side, ninth floor"_

"We'll check it out, thanks" Leo said.

They all soon crawled to the pin point entrance and surrounded it.

"There's nothing here" Raph said.

"Hold on; you hear that?" Leo questioned and held his hand out in front of the window, "Air's coming out; you can feel it too"

"Amazing; maybe it's some kind of hologram" Donnie said.

"Yeah, finally, a way in!" Mikey exclaimed and was moving his hand towards the window.

"Mikey wait!" Leo called out.

But Mikey was halfway in the hologram window and inside the building; but then he suddenly screamed and pulled out and was wobbling. Then a blue fireball flew out of the window and Mikey fell off the window, crashing into Donnie and caused him to fall as well, both falling towards the streets.


	18. The Search for Splinter Part 2

Donnie and Mikey continued falling to the pavement with no way to stop, but then Viola pulled out a gun grappling hook, shot it up to the roof and hooked it to the ledge. The she jumped off the building and dived down to Donnie and Mikey. As she was closing in on them, she wrapped the gun around her ankle and then she reached out and grabbed Donnie's and Mikey's foot and she pressed a button on the gun with her other foot and the rope stopped and they were all dangling in the air.

"Nice catch; you got any clean underwear in the goodie bag of yours?" Mikey asked Donnie.

"You goofball" Donnie said.

"Raph, Leo, pull us up!" Viola called out.

Raph and Leo grabbed the rope and began to pull her and their brothers up.

"Not only she's a level headed girl, she's also resourceful, she's a catch for you Raph" Leo teased.

"Can it Leo!" Raph growled.

They both soon pulled Viola, Donnie and Mikey up and they stuck to the window again.

"April, there's a booby trap hologram covering the ninth floor exhaust port, it's active and the only way inside" Leo informed, "Can you shut it down?"

_"Uh...standby"_ April said.

A second later, the hologram disappeared and they all crawled inside.

"We're in April" Donnie informed.

_"That's great guys"_

But April was cut off and they kept hearing some arguing and some crashing noise, but then it settled down.

"Hey, are you guys safe?" Leo asked.

_"Barely; listen guys, there's more to this place t-that m-me-eets the-e ey-y-ee"_ April was cutting out and then it ended.

"April" Leo called out, "April? We lost her"

"My guess is that there's some kind of signal dampener in here" Donnie said.

"Guys, shh" Raph called out and pointed to an air duct.

They all gathered around and saw a man pushing a crate of canisters down the hall. Once he passed by, they removed the air duct and they jumped down and hid before they could be spotted. Once the man gone through the door, the turtles and Viola followed in, but when they opened the door and looked in, the room had three different doors. Then when Mikey opened a different door, the next room was the same.

"Huh? Déjà vu" Mikey said and looked back at the others, "It's just like this one"

"Scout this floor, then meet back here in five" Leo said.

"Hey Viola, why don't you tag with Raph" Mikey said.

He pushed Viola into Raph and he glared at him while Mikey just smirked, waved and then left through the door. While they were going through different doors and coming into the same room, they would all run into each other every now and then. But eventually, they came through different doors back into the hallway.

"Man, that was one crazy labyrinth" Viola sighed.

"Ok, that was weird" Mikey said.

"I fill like a lab rat looking for cheese" Raph said.

"It's like this is all designed to keep people going in circles" Donnie said.

There was a humming noise and they all ran into a different room when someone came out from the same door they went into where the labyrinth was and peeked out to see two men walking down the hall.

"Just be glad we weren't on security detail tonight" one man with blonde hair said.

"Why?" the man said brown hair asked.

"They had some nutcase smashing up the lobby over a toaster"

"Oh, that's why they're all reporting to decontamination; poor slobs"

The two men soon disappeared and the turtles and Viola came out.

"What are they talking about decontamination?" Viola questioned.

"We don't have time to wonder about their hygiene, we have to find a way further into the building" Leo said.

"Mikey, Viola and I can check to see where this elevator goes" Donnie suggested.

"Good, and Raph and I will ghost those two"

Mikey, Donnie and Viola hopped onto the elevator and they saw that there was more buttons than there was in the building.

"Hmm, ten floors, fifty buttons" Mikey said, "Let's see where you take us"

Mikey pressed a button on the panel and the elevator moved, then when the doors opened, the hallway looked the same on the floor they were just on.

"Try another floor" Donnie suggested.

"Good idea" Mikey said and pressed another button.

The elevator moved and when the doors opened, it was the same hallway again.

"Didn't we just do this?" Mikey questioned.

"They're all the same, just like the rooms" Donnie said.

"Do you think they use some kind of codes to actually get around the building into different places that doesn't look the same?" Viola suggested.

"Maybe" Donnie said, then they continued to try different floors.

Leo and Raph continued to follow the two guys through the building and when they went down a hall and the two turtles followed, they looked to see that it was a dead end.

"Where'd they go?" Raph questioned.

Leo made his way down the hall and pulled one of his swords out, then he used it and poked it into the wall and it went right through.

"Holographic" Leo said, "But without the booby trap"

"Then let's do it" Raph said.

Raph and Leo then passed through the hologram into whatever room it lead to.

Donnie, Mikey and Viola then came upon _another_ look-a-like floor.

"Should we?" Mikey thought.

"Next" Donnie said and Mikey pressed another button.

"I'm starting to get a headache" Viola groaned as she leaned against the wall.

But when they came to another floor, they spotted two people coming their way and they jumped up and held each other up against the ceiling.

"Mortu so overreacts, I didn't even touch that guy in the lobby" the man said.

"But you touched Newman and he touched that guy in the lobby" the woman said.

"Newman" the man said with distain in his voice.

The woman pressed a few buttons on the panel, "This suit is killing me, I can't wait to get out of it"

The elevator doors soon opened to a floor different from the look a likes and they got off and the turtles and Viola soon followed. They were surprised and shocked to see what the room looked it, it was large and it looked very alien like. The two employees walked onto two panels and they fell through it.

"Did you see?" Mikey started.

"Uh huh" Donnie said.

All three then walked towards the ledge to overlook that large chasm.

"Myself, I would've fired the decorator" Mikey joked.

"Just look at this place" Donnie said.

"It's like some kind of techno organic fusion" Donnie them pulled out some rope, "We're going down there"

"Looks more like a giant stomach to me" Mikey said, "Which means I don't even want to think about what 'down there' end trails, or, and tails"

When Donnie hooked the lines and he and Mikey tied up, they were about to hand Viola the ropes to tie to her, but she kept looking out towards the chasm with this look on her face, like she was frightened or surprise by what she was seeing.

"Viola, you in there?" Mikey asked as he waved he waved his hand in front of her face.

"Viola" Donnie said and touched Viola's shoulder.

Viola jumped a bit and looked at both of them, "What?"

"You zoned out on us girl" Mikey said.

"It must be too much for you, maybe you should go-"

"NO!" Viola said in a firm hard voice that startled Donnie and Mikey, but then she softened up, "S-sorry... I-It's just that this place seems so weirdly familiar, I don't know why"

"Well, let's see where this place goes" Donnie said and handed Viola the rope.

Once she tied to rope to herself, they lowered themselves down until they came to the bottom, but they were hanging over a doorway where some other people were. A weird tube lowered down and a man slide out of it and fell into line with the other three. The man at the front them reached up and them removed his skin, revealing that he was a robot. Mikey yelped out, but Donnie covered his mouth to keep from being spotted.

"Can this freak show get any weirder?" Mikey questioned.

The continued to watch as the man removed his body suit and then revealed that there was a brain like alien in its stomach. This time, Donnie yelped out and Mikey had to cover his mouth; Viola continued to stare with wide eyes and jaw dropped. The other three then began to remove their body suits, and then the alien brains floated out of their robot bodies and landed on some small platforms in the middle of the room.

Then some claws came in and grabbed the robot bodies and dropped them in some liquid while the other claw grabbed the body suits and dropped them into a pod. Then some guns came out and them sprayed with water, but it looked like it was hurting them.

_"Attention, this is an intruder alert"_ a voice called out the intercom, _"All search protocols are in effect"_

"Uh oh, I think we've been found out" Donnie gasped.

"More intruders?" one of the aliens said, "My skin can't take another scowering"

"There they are!" another alien said.

"Uh" Mikey said, "Up we go"

Donnie pressed a button on his belt and they went up; but as they made it to the top, so did the aliens and they started to fire at them.

"Follow me!" Donnie said.

They all then ran to a tube that was filled with some kind of slime and jumped in, sliding down to a hallway.

"Urg!" Mikey groaned, "Ok, I'm officially grossed out!"

Two of the aliens in robot bodies were then coming their way with some kind of electric rod. As they were running away, they came to a door and when it opened, Raph and Leo were on the other side.

"Hey" Mikey greeted, "Fancy meeting you here"

"This way!" Donnie said and they all ran down the hallway.

They soon made it into a different room and Mikey and Donnie began to push against one of the machines and made it collapse and block the doorway. But then they all noticed what was in the room: pod like chambers.

"Whoa, matrix city" Mikey gasped and they looked around.

"What is this place?" Raph questioned, "The morgue?"

"I hope not" Leo said, then pointed to one of the pods, "Because look!"

They all looked to where Leo was pointing and saw Master Splinter was in one of the pods and then ran to him.

"Oh man, is he-is he?" Mikey asked.

"I don't think so" Donnie said as he looked at a panel in front of Splinter, "From what I can tell, this looks like some kind of bio suspension unit; he's probably in stasis"

"Then let's cut him out" Raph said and pulled his sais out.

"Wait, we might do more harm than good" Leo said and held Raph back.

"Leo's right" Donnie said, "We don't understand this technology"

"We can't just leave him in there" Mikey said, "Don, figure something out!"

"Ok, just uh-just give me a minute to study this"

A loud explosion sounded and they looked back to see that the barrier between them and the aliens was destroyed.

"I don't think we have a minute for study hall" Viola said.

"Careful with your weapons discharge" one of the aliens said, "We cannot afford to damage the techno organic equipment in this chamber"

But then one of the aliens fired at them and it exploded.

"What did I just say!" the alien scolded.

"Sorry" the alien that fired apologized.

"Wait a minute, look at that one!" one of the aliens gasped, "That girl!"

The turtles and aliens looked at Viola and she looked confused by why she was the center of attention.

"Uh, friends of yours?" Mikey questioned.

"Capture that girl!" one of the aliens said.

"I don't want to know" Viola said and drew her sword.

The aliens charged at them and Raph and Leo took the front line and then one of the aliens hovered over to Mikey and began to fire at him, then he leapt at the alien and kicked him, causing it to fly out of control and firing its weapon on everyone and everything.

But as it was firing, Donnie saw that it was about to hit Splinter, so he jumped in the way and it caused him to fly into a different room. The four soon ran after Donnie into the next room and found him knocked out at the steps of some weird panel; then they started to drag him back.

"Stop!" a man said who looked like Mr. Mortu, "Listen to me, you must get off of there immediately!"

When they tried to move away, they couldn't move at all.

"I can't move my feet!" Mikey gasped as he tried to pull his legs.

Mr. Mortu then ran to a panel and began to type something on it, trying to shut it off.

"I can't stop it, it's too late"

The device then began to spark and hum, then a light covered the turtles and Viola and started to take them apart into particles into the light. Then the light, along with the turtles and Viola, disappeared and nothing was left but smoke that began to vanish as well, leaving nothing left.


	19. Turtles in Space Part 1: The Fugitoid

Where ever the beam was taking them, they were feeling light and everything was feeling fast. But then they hit solid ground and were forming into one piece again and into an alleyway.

"Oh, that was unpleasant" Mikey groaned.

"Take cover!" a man shouted with others with him, "The fugitoid's got some kind of secret weapon!"

"No I don't" a small robot said as it hid under a blanket.

"Urg, I feel like I've been turned inside out and back again" Raph groaned as he cracked his neck, then looked over at Viola, who had her hands on her knees, panting, "Are you alright?"

"I'll let you know when my stomach arrives" Viola groaned.

"What happened?" Mikey asked, "That light, the strange lab, those weird robot aliens, where'd they go?"

"You mean, where'd we go?" Leo rephrased.

"Some place I don't think we're supposed to be" Donnie said and they all turned to see some men pointing guns at them.

"Natives don't look too friendly" Mikey said.

"I think our best defense might be-"

"Some serious butt kicking ninja action" Raph finished for Leo as he took his sais out.

But as the turtles were dealing with the armed men, Viola had noticed something in the corner of the alley way and slowly made her way towards it, her hand on the hilt of her sword so she'd be ready for it.

"Hello?" Viola called out.

"Hello" the robot said as it came out of the shadows, then looked back at the turtles, "My word, those fellos are making short work of these troops"

"Well, that's kind of their thing; do you need help?"

"As much as you do" the robot said and walked over to a boarded up door, "Hmm, one benefit of this robotic body is its sheer strength"

Viola was a little confused when he said that, then he tore away the boards; just in time when the turtles finally finished the troops.

"What the shell was that all about?" Leo questioned.

"Whatever it was, it's not over" Donnie said and pointed down at the end of the alley, "Look!"

Flashlights began to shine around at the end of the alley.

"Well guys, it's fight or flight" Leo said as he drew his swords again.

"I vote fight" Raph said with glee.

"You always vote fight" Mikey said.

"Wait, where's Viola?" Raph questioned as he looked around.

"Guys!" Viola called out and the turtles looked back at her with the robot, "Let's bail out!"

"Viola, get away from that thing, you don't who that is!" Raph said as he gripped his sais.

"Don't worry; he's helping us escape"

The troops began to close in on them, much more than the ones they just dealt with and they aimed their weapons at them before shooting. The turtles dodged the bullets before jumping into the building with the robot and Viola.

"Hurry, hurry!" the robot said from the stairs, "Those Federation troops won't give up a chase so easily"

The turtles and Viola began to follow after the robot up to the roof, but they came to a dead end.

"Another dead end" Leo said as they all looked over the edge.

"And here comes the unwelcome wagon" Mikey said and looked back to see the troops catching up to them.

"Quick, into that truck!" Leo said and pointed down to a passing garbage truck.

"No, I hate heights!" the robot objected.

"How do you feel about laser guns?" Leo questioned.

The turtles soon jumped off the roof and managed to make it into the truck, but Viola and the robot were still on the roof.

"Come on, I'll help you" Viola said and picked the robot up and began to run after the truck before jumping for it.

"I don't like this!" the robot shouted.

Viola managed to grab onto the truck, but she was dangling from it while holding onto the robot. Raph reached out and pulled Viola and the robot in. As they continued to hitch a ride in the garbage truck, they looked out to see the city.

"Where are we?" Leo questioned.

"Something tells me this ain't Manhattan" Raph said.

"I'm not sure we're on earth" Donnie said.

"Wow, this place is so beautiful" Viola gasped as she looked up towards the sky.

The truck had soon stopped in a neighborhood and they took this opportunity to get out.

"Ah earth" the robot said, "Is that your home planet? I don't believe it's in this galaxy, at least I've never heard of it; are you the dominate species of your planet?"

"Where are we?" Raph questioned him angrily.

"Raph, that's not helping" Viola said as she placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down and stepped towards the robot, "Please sir, can you tell us who you are and where we're at?"

"You're on the planet D'Hoonnib in the citiom system, Federation territory"

"A different galaxy?" Donnie questioned in shock.

"Somewhere right now, Winter's head is exploding" Viola muttered.

"Master Splinter is so far away, so helpless" Leo said, "We have to help Master Splinter"

"We'll find a way Leo" Raph said.

"We don't know how we got zapped here in the first place" Donnie said.

"That question has been vexing me" the robot said, "How did you materialized like that?"

"Guys, you can compare theories later, right now" Leo said and pointed down the street, "We got company"

They looked down the street to see the Federation troops coming their way.

"Urg, more of those bozos" Raph groaned a he took his sais out.

"Don't looked now, but those bozos brought a tank!" Donnie pointed out.

"How come bad guys got all the great toys?" Mikey whined.

The tank was coming closer and closer to them.

"You know, I don't really feel like being taken apart again because I know we won't be put back together" Viola said as she kept her hand on her sword.

As they were backing up, they heard a noise and looked to their right to see more troops blocking their way, so they hid in a nearby stand.

"You're surrounded!" one of the troops said, "Come out with your appendages where we can see them!"

But when the troops moved some of the crates, there was nobody there; the troops began to scale the streets, not knowing that they taken refuge underground in the sewers. Leo and the robot then slide down the tunnel to the others and when the robot came out roughly, Viola jumped out and caught him while Leo landed perfectly.

"Oh, thank you very much young lady" the robot said.

"No problem" Viola said and set him down.

"Check out these fancy sewers!" Mikey exclaimed as they looked around the clean polished sewer tunnel, "Clean enough to eat off of, if only we had something to eat"

"So, what is your story?" Donnie asked the robot, "Why're those soldiers after you?"

"Hmm, yes, I do owe you a full explanation; you see, I am Professor Honeycutt, or at least, I used to be. I was the most brilliant scientist on D'Hoonnib, I had just completed my mental wave helmet, a device for boosting mind power, like telepathy and telekinesis, when I was rudely interrupted by General Blank. Just because he's the head of the Federation military in this sector, he thinks he can call anytime he wants. You see, the 'good' general wanted me to build my teleportal device, a device capable of transporting beings from planet to planet."

"I invented the teleportal as a way to promote peace, but General Blank had other ideas, he wanted to use it as a weapon for death and destruction. And that is why, even though he was funding my work, I could never build it for him. It was then that I received a distress call from my worker robot Sal, he had become entangled in some wires. An electrical storm was brewing and we were struck by lightning; the lightening must have triggered my mental wave helmet, my body was destroyed, but my mind was transferred into Sal's robotic shell."

"Apparently the 'good' General had been constantly spying on me, and was well aware of my transfer into this robot body. He was overjoyed; you see, robots have no rights, the General could do anything he'd like with me now, the teleportal I wouldn't give him when I was human, he could take from me now that I became a robot. He sent his men after me, but with the help of large hermit crab like creatures, I was about to elude Blank's soldiers, at least, until I came to the city. Which is where you came in"

"Guys" Leo said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That an extra large serving of kung pao chicken would be really good right now?" Mikey said and it earned a glare from Leo and Raph.

"The Professors teleportal, right?" Raph said.

"Right, if the Professor here" Leo started.

"Can build his teleportal" Donnie continued.

"Then we can use it to go home" Raph finished.

"Home" Mikey sighed, then he shook his head, "Uh, don't get me wrong Professo Roboto, these sewers on your planet are nice, but they don't have that same sewer fresh stank like our sewers have"

"How do they keep these sewers so clean?" Raph questioned.

"Probably something to do with that!" Donnie exclaimed when he saw a large machine coming their way that had claws and a shredder.

"Let's get out of here!" Viola shouted and they all started to run.

"It's gaining on us!" Mikey shouted.

"I don't think we can outrun it!" Donnie shouted.

"Then it looks like it time to rage against the machine!" Leo shouted as he drew he swords.

"If you guys can slow it down, I think I can stop it" Donnie said.

"I've got an idea!" Leo said and sliced some of the pipes above them.

"Mikey" Raph shouted as he grabbed one of the pipes, "Think fast!"

Mikey, Leo and Raph all had pipes in their hands and used them to hold it back. Donnie then jumped up against the side of the wall, blocking the machines claws and jumped on top of it. While Donnie pried the panel open, Honeycutt and Viola grabbed some pipes and helped out in holding the machine back.

"Raph, toss me a sai!" Donnie called out.

Raph tossed him his sai, but then they all lost grip and fell back and the machine was closing in on them. But Donnie stabbed the wires in the machine and managed to shut it down before it grabbed anyone.

"See, piece of cake" Donnie sighed and Viola helped him stand up.

The turtles, Viola and Honeycutt continued down the sewers until they came across a manhole and crawled out into the streets. But when they all made it out, they saw that two of the Federation troops coming their way and one of the aliens running a stand gave them away, but they hid just in time.

"These soldiers are everywhere" Raph said as they came to an abandoned building.

"Indeed" Honeycutt said.

"We've got to get out of the city fast; Raphael, we're gonna need some transportation" Leo said.

"Back in two" Raph said and headed out.

"Don't hurt anyone unless it's the Federation!" Viola called out.

"Can't make any promises!" Raph called back.

"Um, I'll keep an eye on him" Mikey said and followed Raph.

Raph snuck around some alleyways and corners and Mikey was trailing far behind, not even catching up to help him.

"Now, to find something to eat" Mikey said and went in a different direction than Raph.

Raph walked through the streets, then he hid when he saw a Federation tank between some stalls and he snuck his way over there.

"Which sewer entrance were we supposed to be watching again?" the Federation soldier at the top of the tank asked.

Raph then grabbed the guy and pulled him out before jumping inside the tank and walked towards the driver.

"Yo pal" Raph called out, "Mind if I borrow your tank?" Raph then knocked the guy out.

Elsewhere, Mikey walked to a stand and grabbed a bag and opened it up, when he was about to eat it, he heard a gun clocking and he turned to see two Federation soldiers.

"Uh, hi guys" Mikey said nervously, "Bye guys!" Mikey threw the chips at the soldiers before running off, "Stupid, stupid, stupid ninja turtle!"

Mikey rounded the corner, but he ran into one of the Federation tanks and the nozzle was pointed at him. As he tried to back out, the two soldiers caught u to him, blocking his way out.

"Sometimes I hate being me" Mikey groaned, then the soldiers circled him, "Well, if I'm going down, at least I'm going down fighting!" Mikey said and pulled his nunchakus out.

Before the soldiers could shoot at Mikey, the nozzle on the tank lowered, blocking Mikey, which confused him; then it turned and knocked the soldiers into some stands. Then Raph came up.

"Quit fooling around Mikey, we got to pick up the others!" Raph said.

Mikey put his nunchakus away and he hoped onto the tank and then picked up the others.

"Nothing like riding in style" Donnie exclaimed.

"Couldn't you have boosted something a little less, I don't know, conspicuous, something that might blend in better!" Leo scolded.

"Are you kidding, this puppy's almost invisible, it blends so well" Raph said, then he glanced over at Viola, "Plus, chicks dig the tank"

Viola was distracted by something else, but then she took a double take when she saw that everyone was staring at her, "What?"

The turtles began to snicker as Raph glared at them. They continued through the streets, but then they saw that the other Federations were starting to follow.

"Yeah, real invisible" Leo said.

The Federation then opened fire on them and it rocked the tank hard.

"Donnie, return fire!" Leo shouted.

"Uh, in a minute, my D'Hoonibian is a little rusty" Donnie said as he looked for the weapons.

"How can it be rusty if you've never heard of another galaxy?" Viola shouted as she hung onto the railings.

"Donnie, you better figure out how to fire this puppy or we're gonna be smoked turtle meat in a can" Raph said.

"Perhaps I can be of some service" Honeycutt offered and made his way over to Donnie, "One of the perks of this robot body" Honeycutt transformed his hand into a tool and plugged it into that tank before a beep went off, "Yes, I have weapons control"

As they rounded the corner, another tank was coming their way.

"Tell me you're not playing chicken Raph?" Leo questioned.

"A turtle is never a chicken" Raph said and easily maneuvered to the side, causing the tank in front to shoot the tank that was behind them, "Now Doc!"

Honeycutt moved the tank nozzle and shot at the tanks.

"Nice shot!" Viola cheered.

"We have another one on our tail" Donnie exclaimed.

"Not for long" Raph said and slide the side into the building, causing it to crumble and crush the tank.

"There's one more up ahead" Honeycutt informed.

"Fire!" Raph shouted and Honeycutt destroyed the tank.

As they moved through the smoke, they jumped out in time when the soldiers ahead of them shot at the tank, destroying it. They hid in an alley way and the turtles and Viola snuck off, but Honeycutt didn't see them sneak off and looked around.

"Now where did those little fellos go?" But then Leo went back and Honeycutt spotted him, "Ah, how do you know all those wonderful disappearing techniques?"

Leo placed a hand on Honeycutt's mouth, "Shh" Leo pulled him away before any of the soldiers spotted them.


	20. TIS Part 2: The Trouble with Triceratons

The turtles, Viola and Honeycutt continued to elude the Federation soldiers and Donnie and Leo came back after a quick look out.

"That's the fifth patrol we've seen in the last hour" Leo informed.

"Don't those guys have anything better to do?" Donnie questioned.

"We took down half of the Federation soldiers, stole and destroyed multiple tanks and we're holding the key to their galaxy domination, I don't think they'll let us off with a warning" Viola said.

A growling was heard and they looked to see Mikey holding his stomach.

"I know, poor baby, you're hungry aren't you" Mikey cooed at his stomach.

"We got an entire alien army looking for us and you're talking to your stomach!" Raph scolded.

"Well it's talking to me, it's saying 'food, fooood'"

"Here Mikey, I usually pack a small something, even on missions" Viola said and reached into her shirt and pulled out a bag of trail mix.

"I love you Viola!" Mikey exclaimed, snatched the bag and dumped the whole thing down his throat.

"More than food, we need an escape plan" Leo said.

"We need to get off this planet quickly and quietly" Honeycutt said, "And that means smugglers; I believe I know of one particularly sleazy inn where we just might obtain off world transport"

"Sounds like a plan" Leo said, "Lead on Professor"

They all began to follow Honeycutt into the city where he said the inn was and hid to figure out how to get in.

"This doesn't exactly look like your kind of place Professor" Raph said.

"Um, well-uh, I'm very paschal to the D'Honnibians spicy cheese disks they serve here" Honeycutt said, then looked at his robotic body, "At least I used to be"

"Whoa, alien pizza, what a concept" Mikey said.

"We can't just walk in there" Leo said, "Our pictures are everywhere"

"Maybe it's time for the ninjutsu art of disguise" Donnie said and pointed towards some clothes hanging on some lines.

They all soon put the robes on and lifted their hoods up.

"Um, anyone want to trade?" Viola asked and they all looked over to see her wearing the pink robe, she had her pants legs and sleeves rolled up to hide them.

"Why? Pink looks good on you" Mikey said, then nudge Raph, "Right Raph"

Raph shoved his shoulder against Mikey's hard and knocked him down. Viola sighed, then she pulled her hair tie out and let her hair fall loose over half her face, then she pulled her hood up. They all soon went in to look for the person Honeycutt was talking about, the turtles and Viola saw that their pictures were everywhere, so they had to be cautious. But as they were walking, a tentacle wrapped around Viola and she pulled up against a six eyed tentacle alien.

"Hey, beautiful; are you a library book? Because I'm checking you out" the alien flirted.

"How original" Viola muttered as she kept smacking away the aliens' flirty tentacles.

"Uh Raph, I think someone's moving in on your girlfriend" Donnie pointed out.

Raph looked over and saw that the alien kept putting his tentacles all over Viola and he saw red, more than his mask.

"You're new here, I like that in a woman; so, what's your viscreen number?" the alien asked.

"Hey!" Raph shouted and pulled Viola away and kept his arm around her shoulder, "Don't be talking to my girl!"

Raph then lead them away and Viola sighed. "Thank you so much, I owe you" Viola said and looked up at him with a smile.

"Nobody should be treating a girl like you that way"

"I do believe these fine gentlemen can help us" Honeycutt said and pointed to a man and a hairy beast.

"We can do better" Leo and Raph said.

A scream was heard and they looked to see Federation soldiers coming their way.

"Everybody, freeze in the name of the Federation!" the man in front shouted.

"Man, they'll let anybody in this place" Raph said and was about to take his sais out, but Leo stopped him.

As the Federation was coming closer, everyone was moving out of their way.

Leo looked back and saw a way out, "Back door, come on"

They all began to back up slowly, making sure that they wouldn't stand out more than they should. But as they were back up, someone pressed a gun to Viola's back.

"You, get back in there" the man ordered.

"I don't think it would be very gentlemanly of you to harm an innocent woman" Viola said as she turned around, "But it doesn't mean I can harm you!" Viola jumped up and did a spin kick on the guys head.

"You go girl" one of the waitress cheered. But the commotion brought in more of the troops.

"Troopers, attack!" one of the men commanded.

The turtles and Viola removed their robed and drew their weapons; they fought and managed to take down a few of the soldiers, but then they were surrounded.

"Take out this alien trash, but don't target the fugitoid" one of the soldiers said, then they all aimed their weapons, "On my order!"

Just when they were about to shoot, the wall behind them exploded and what looked like triceratops walking in with masks and guns.

"Find the fugitoid, destroy the rest!" the triceratops with an eye patch ordered.

The triceratops then began to shoot and everyone scattered, even the Federation. Honeycutt tried to get away, but he couldn't get through that lasers, but then Leo jumped in, grabbed him and hoped over behind the counter where Raph and Viola were.

"Man, who invited the dinosaurs?" Raph questioned.

"Triceratons" Honeycutt corrected, "A ruthless and war like race, they're the sworn enemies of the Federation, I simple can't imagine what they're doing here"

"I bet Winter would kill to get tickets to this show" Viola said.

Suddenly, one of the Triceratons was leaning over the counter over them, but then Leo kicked him back. Mikey then jumped in and kicked one of the Triceratons down, but then the others began shooting at him while he hid behind a pillar.

"We need a way out of here!" Mikey shouted.

"I'm on it!" Donnie called back from under the table, then he hit against the table, "Structurally sound" Donnie placed the gun down and pressed a button on it and placed it under the table and hopped on top, "All aboard the turtle express!"

As they were hopping onto the table, Leo and Honeycutt were just about to make it, but then Honeycutt fell down. When Leo was about to reach for him, a Triceraton shot at them and then grabbed Honeycutt and began tossing him back towards the hole in the wall.

"Professor Honeycutt!" Viola shouted and was about to go after him, but Raph and Mikey held her back.

Leo then jumped onto the table and then as the gun made a long beeping noise and the gun exploded, causing the table to shoot out of the inn and slide down the street before they crashed.

"Get your hands off me!" Honeycutt shouted, "Let me go!"

"Guys, look!" Leo shouted and they watched as the Triceratons flew away with Honeycutt.

"Come on, they're getting away!" Mikey shouted.

"Hey guys!" Donnie exclaimed and ran to a rundown ship, "Check this out"

"That bucket of bolts?" Raph questioned.

"Oh ye of little faith" Donnie opened up the hood and began to mess around with the engine; the ship then started to make a humming noise and Donnie jumped into the driver's seat. "I am so good" But then the ship started to smoke up a lot and everyone was coughing before it disappeared.

"Sidecar, I get sidecar!" Mikey called and jumped into the side car.

The others then got in the ship and buckled up.

"Hey Don, want me to drive?" Raph asked.

"It's all under control" Donnie said.

Donnie pressed some of the buttons and the ship started to hover in the air, but then it started to speed and out of control before they were in the air.

"Um, I meant to do that"

But then they screamed when they approached two buildings that had a small opening. They soon regained some control of it and Mikey was the only one looking like he was having fun. After some time, they managed to catch up with the Triceratons that took Honeycutt. But they were noticed and some Triceratons flew in and started to fire at them.

"We've got horn heads on our tails!" Leo shouted.

"Man, I wish this flying bathtub had some weapons!" Raph shouted, "We're sitting ducks!"

"Turtles and a girl actually!" Mikey corrected.

"Whatever!"

Donnie then flew upwards higher into the air.

"This is just gonna take some extreme flying!" Donnie said.

"I was afraid you were gonna say that" Raph said.

Donnie then flew out into the trees and began to weave through them to try and lose the Triceratons, but they were hot on their tails. But then Donnie was flying closer to a tree before he took a detour and one of the Triceratons flew into it.

"Oh yeah, these bozos may be tough, but Donnie here learned to drive in New York City" Raph said.

But the praise was cut short when the two remaining Triceratons shot at them.

"We've got to have some weapons in here!" Mikey said.

"Like Master Splinter says, anything can be a weapon in the right hands" Leo said and then picked Viola up and placed her in Raph's lap before removing the backseat with his swords and picking it up, "You guys look tired, have a seat!" Leo said and threw the backseat at another Triceraton.

Donnie and Raph then noticed that Mikey was messing with the buttons in his side car.

"Uh, leave the shiny buttons alone Mikey!" Donnie said.

"But it might be something really good" Mikey said. Mikey then pressed another button, but then a sound went off. "Or not"

Mikey looked to see that the connection to his sidecar discharged and he was started to fall while screaming. The remaining Triceraton then shot at the ship and making it go out of control, then when Mikey came flying around, he jumped out of his sidecar and Leo pulled him into the ship. Then the Triceraton flew over and ripped off the back engine and then landed on the front hood, ripping out that engine as well.

"We're going down!" Donnie shouted.

"We're doomed, we're doomed!" Mikey shouted in distress.

The turtles and Viola then made a very rough landing through the trees and onto the ground.

"Nice landing bro" Raph groaned as they all stood up from the wreckage.

"Could've been worse" Donnie said.

"I don't think so" Leo said, "We lost the Professor, we'll never find him now, which means we'll never get home; we've failed ourselves, we've failed Master Splinter"

"Lighten up Leo" Raph said, "Well find a way"

"We always do" Mikey said.

"Well, I took the liberty of attaching a turtle tracker to our little metal friend" Donnie said and pulled out his tracking device.

"Nice work Donnie!" Leo said.

"You the turtle" Viola said.

Weird noises then went off somewhere deeper into the woods.

"What was that?" Raph questioned.

"Fighting" Leo answered, "Nearby, come on!"

"Urg, just for once I wish we were running away from the explosions" Mikey groaned.

They soon came to where the fighting was going on and peeked through the bushes, seeing the Triceratons and the Federation fighting.

"What've we stepped into this time?" Raph questioned.

"More trouble as usual" Viola answered.

"Guys, the fugitoid's in there somewhere" Donnie said and pointed at the Triceratons base camp.

"It's rescue time!" Raph said and pulled his sais out.

The rest drew their weapons out and charged onto the battle field, dodging lasers and any of the Federation and Triceratons on the way. But when they made it close, the entrance was starting to seal.

"The horn heads are booking!" Raph exclaimed, "Come on!"

Raph grabbed a nearby gun and then made a run for the closing door and jumped in just as it closed shut. Two of the Triceratons started to shoot at him, but Raph shot back before the Triceratons made a run for it.

"These blasters are way cool" Raph laughed, then pressed the button to open the doorway up.

The others had soon made it in and then Raph closed the doorway.

"I don't understand" Leo said as they walked further inside, "Why would a bunker have a cargo bay?"

The whole place then started to charge.

"Maybe because it's not a bunker!" Donnie said.

"It's a ship?!" Viola exclaimed as the ship began to fly up into the air.

Then the ship started to move faster and the turtles and Viola were suddenly lifted up into the air and smashed into the ceiling. The ship then slowed down and the turtles and Viola fell off of the ceiling, but instead of hitting the floor, they were floating in midair.

"Zero gravity!" Viola exclaimed and was trying to grab a hold of something to keep from floating around.

"Guys, check this out" Donnie called over. The others came out and looked out the window to see space, rocks and other things.

"We're in space?!" Mikey exclaimed.

The cargo bay then started to shake violently and they looked up to see that there was a crack growing in one of the window.

"Get away from there guys!" Donnie warned.

The crack then grew into the hole and everything was beginning to fly out. But then the turtles moved a big metal crate towards the whole and managed to close it up.

"We don't have any!" Mikey gasped and held at his throat.

"Air!" Raph shouted.

"Save your breath" Leo said.

"But how do we-"

"Save your breath!"

"But-"

"Save... your...breath!" the turtles and Viola were then knocked unconscious, not knowing what the ship was going to take them and what danger they may face.


	21. Turtles in Space Part 3: The Big House

**I want to say sorry about the late update, I have so many fanfiction stories I'm working on and I'm conflicted about which to post next, but I'm getting there with them; so sorry again for the wait.**

When the ship made it back to the Triceratons home base, some of them went into the cargo bay to look at the damages done.

"Sir!" a Triceraton called out, "Stowaways!"

"This chamber had no atmosphere" another Triceraton said as he approached the turtles and Viola, who were sitting in a meditating position, "They can't possibly be alive"

The Triceraton approached Raph, grabbed his wrist and held it up to his ear.

"Get your paws off me" Raph warned, "You ugly three horned dinosaur"

"They're alive! But how?"

"It's called Chi Gong, internal breathing" Leo explained.

"Our ninja training teaches us how to slow our breath and heart rate, enabling us to survive the loss of atmosphere, for a while anyway" Donnie added.

"Well I don't know about you bros, but now I'm ready for a taste of good old oxygen" Mikey said and took in a deep breath, but then he started to gag and cough.

"Oxygen?" the Triceraton questioned, "We Triceratons breath a hardy mixture of nitrogen and sulfur"

The other turtles soon began to gag and cough as well, but Viola was still holding it in, she may be at the same level as the turtles, but she practice some other things every day, wanting it to be perfect in case a day like this came.

"Take them away for interrogation" the Triceraton ordered, "And get me five atmosphere converters"

Once the Triceratons took away the turtles and Viola's weapons and gave them some atmosphere converters to breath normally, they were taken away to some kind of prison facility. When they stepped on a conveyer belt that was taking them inside, a prisoner was being taken out, screaming in fright.

"Have mercy please! No, please don't send me to the games! Anything but the games!"

"Ok I'll bite" Donnie said, "What are the games?"

"Pray you'll never find out, alien" the Triceraton growled.

"Who's the alien here?" Viola muttered.

"Fresh meat!" the Triceraton called out, "Ready for processing!"

The Triceraton at the control panel pressed a button and a circular device hung over the turtles and Viola before lowering down.

"Prisoners, stand back with your hands up!" the Triceraton said as he held his gun to them.

The turtles and Viola put their hands up and some kind of glowing light formed around their wrists, then they were locked together tightly. Then a curved device lowered in and pressed against Donnie's shoulder, leaving a weird symbol on him. Then it marked Leo, Mikey and Raph. But when it was getting close to Viola, she moved out of the way, grabbed it and yanked it right out.

"I'm not so hot on tattoos at the moment" Viola said.

But then a Triceraton grabbed her from behind, then grabbed her head and leaned it out and the curved device pressed into her neck. Then the Triceraton dropped her to the floor, the turtles crowding around to her.

"Are you alright?" Raph asked as he helped her up.

"Yeah, thought I'd try and put up a fight" Viola said as she rubbed her sore neck.

The Triceratons then lead the turtles and Viola further into the building and then place the five of them into a cell, but Raph was persistant.

"Inside alien scum!" the Triceraton ordered.

"Who you calling alien dino beak!" Raph shouted, the Triceraton held up his arm, ready to strike Raph, "Ah ah ah, your boss wants us alive"

The other Triceraton held up a device and pressed a button, causing the marking on Raph's shoulder to spark and electrocuted him back into the cell.

"I can make you wish you weren't" the Tricerton said before closing the door.

"What do we do now?" Viola asked as she helped Raph up.

"For now, we wait" Leo said.

"And maybe catch some Z's" Mikey said and hopped up onto the top bunk.

"For once, he's right" Donnie said and the jumped up to the other bunk.

Viola tried to lead Raph to the bed, but he set her down on it.

"Don't worry, you take the bed, I can handle the floor" Raph said.

Viola was hesitant before nodding. The others were soon asleep but Raph was lying awake on his side next to Viola's bed. He then felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked back to see Viola lying awake on her side facing him and she reached out for his hand. Raph took her hand and she held it tight as she tried to go back to sleep. Morning came and an alarm went off and the doors opened up, letting all the prisoners out into the hallway.

"Move it out, chow time!" the Triceraton ordered.

"Finally, I'm so hungry I can't think straight" Mikey said.

"And here I thought you were just born that way" Raph taunted.

"Oh, a wise guy" Mikey said, then he ran into one of the prisoners.

The prisoner turned around and growled at Mikey and he laughed nervously.

"No one touches Rynokk!" Rynokk shouted and was about to hit Mikey.

"Hey!" Raph shouted and was about to fight him, but Donnie and Leo held him back while Mikey coward behind them.

"Raph, we got to keep a low profile" Leo warned.

Rynokk laughed at them before walking off.

"Ohh, you don't want to mess with Rynokk" another prisoner said, "He's the king of this cellblock, I'd make nice with him if I were you"

They all soon began to fall in line in the lunch room.

"Not that I want to jinx anything, but shouldn't I be in a woman's prison?" Viola questioned.

"Now remember" the prisoner said, "Desserts are the main commonity on the inside, you can use them to buy and sell just about anything"

"No way anyone's getting my dessert" Mikey said as he poured himself a bowl and began to eat it.

"You" the Triceraton said to the alien that was in front of Mikey, "Wax detail, I want to see that floor shine"

"Uh Mikey" Viola called out, but he was too busy gobbling down his food.

"Uh, those are the desserts over there" the prisoner said, pointing to a different machine, "That's the floor wax dispenser"

"Floor wax?!" Mikey exclaimed, then he started to look more green than usual and ran to what looked like a trashcan and started to puke in.

"Not off to a good start, are we?" Donnie questioned as he watched Mikey vomit while Viola rubbed his shell to try and sooth him.

"It will get worse when they realized your friend just hurled in the salad bar" the prisoner said.

After lunch was over, the turtles and Viola were lead back to their cell.

"We need to step up our escape plan" Leo said and reached into his belt to pull out some spoons, "I got spoons; what did you guys swipe?"

Raph reached into his mouth and pulled out a cup, "I got a cup"

Donnie reached into his kneepad and pulled out a wax ball, "I got some floor wax"

Mikey started to search himself, not thinking that he had to swipe anything, but then he improvised.

"Uh, I got a rock" Mikey said and his brothers gave him a look, "Oh right, like we're gonna use floor wax to bust out of here"

"Maybe" Donnie said, then kneeled down, "If my theory is correct about its chemical copasision, mix this with a little soot" Donnie grabbed some dirt and threw it on some of the wax, then grabbed his atmosphere converter, "Add a drop of moisture" When the water hit the floor wax and dirt, it started to smoke up. "And you got a crude but effective smoke bomb" The mixture then puffed up. "Yes, I love it when I'm right"

"You're getting a little cocky Don" Viola said.

"I've been timing the cell block gate" Raph said, "Once it's open, there's a five second delay before the lock resets"

"Once we get passed that, we can access the drainage system" Leo said as he use the spoon to draw out a map, "That'll get us into the exercise yard, from there, we stick to the shadows and scale the outer wall"

"We still need to lift the guards key card" Donnie pointed out, "That'll require a distraction"

"Finally, something I'm good at" Mikey said.

"Then it's settled, we go tonight" Leo decreed.

When dinner came around, the turtles and Viola were sitting at the table, waiting until the guards were away long enough for Donnie to place the smoke bomb under the table.

"Alight, I wrapped the smoke bomb in a damp clothes, it'll act like a fuse, delaying the chemical reaction about six hours" Donnie explained.

"Show time bros" Mikey said as he stood up.

"Hold up" Leo said and held his brother down, "We got trouble"

They all looked back to see Rynokk coming their way.

"Give it up weaklings!" Rynokk growled as the prisoners placed their food in Rynokk's bowl, then he stopped and looked at Raph, "Hand over yours freak!"

"Listen, can't we compromise" Viola said as she stood up between him and Raph, but she made the accident of touching Rynokk.

"No one touches Rynokk!" Rynokk yelled and pushed Viola down roughly to the ground, which wasn't the greatest move.

"Now you've pushed it too far!" Raph yelled.

"Raph, wait, don't!" Donnie warned, but Raph jumped and kicked Rynokk across the room.

Just when Leo was about to grab the key guard from one of the guards, they moved in to try and stop the fight, but the other guard stopped them.

"Wait, this should be good" Prisoners then started to crowd around to watch Raph and Rynokk fight, the crowd cheering for Rynokk.

Raph managed to dodge Rynokk a few times and land one hit, but then he grabbed Raph and slammed him against the table. Then Raph grabbed some of the food and threw it in Rynokk's face, distracting him long enough to get loose, then he kicked him down across the room.

The crowd was quiet, shocked, but then they started to cheer for Raph, but they called him 'green guy'. Rynokk jumped towards Raph, but then Raph jumped back and landed at the end of the table, making it go up and hit Rynokk in the face, knocking him unconscious. Once Rynokk was down, Raph went to Viola.

"Hey, you ok?" Raph asked as he looked over her to see if she was injured, "You're not damaged badly?"

"No, you've seen me take blows before, I can handle myself perfectly fine" Viola reassured with a smile.

Raph smiled back, but then his tattoo started to spark and electrocuted him, taking him down.

"Take him to solitary!" one of the Triceratons ordered.

When two of the guards were about to take him, Viola stood in front of Raph. Then when the Triceraton used the key card to electrocute Viola, she was barely on one knee, but she managed to stand her ground, which shocked everyone in the room; no one can withstand the electricity from the tattoo. Viola took a shaky step forwards before she charged, leaped up in the air and did a split kick on the two guards, knocked them across the rooms. Then when the electric tattoo still didn't work, the guard came up behind Viola's quickly and knocked her unconscious from behind.

"Viola!" Raph shouted and was about to run to her, but two more guards came in and withheld Raph.

Raph was then taken out of the room with him shouting for Viola. When the other turtles were about to help Viola, the two guards that were knocked out stood between them and Viola.

"What do we do about the girl?" the Triceraton asks.

"We'll see what Prime Leader Zanramon thinks of her" the guard said and started to haul Viola away.

After that tragedy, the remaining turtles were back in their cell.

"Alright, plan B" Leo said as he drew another map, "We can still make it into the drainage system from solitary, we just need to spring Raph first"

"But how do we get close enough to a guard to swipe his key card?" Donnie asked.

"If a prisoner's really sick, they have to take him to the infirmary, right?"

"How do you make that convincing?" Mikey asked as he continued to eat from his bowl that he took from the cafeteria. Leo and Donnie looked at each other before Donnie reached into his belt and pulled a big ball of floor wax. "No, no way!" Mikey objected, "Oh come on guys" Leo and Donnie held Mikey down as they force fed him the floor wax.

"Help, help" Donnie called out as he banged against the door, "Guard, guards we need help, come quick!"

"My brothers really sick!" Leo called out.

The door then opened up and two of the guards came in and approached Mikey, who was kneeling on the floor, groaning in pain.

"Fools, that trick won't work in here" the guard said as he picked Mikey up.

But then Mikey started to look more green than usual and then hurled onto the guard's face; then the guard knocked Mikey to the ground.

"Disgusting" the Triceraton growled.

An alarm suddenly went off, sounding off code red in the cafeteria. The guards then left.

"Did you grab their key card Donnie?" Leo asked.

"I thought you were gonna get it" Donnie said.

Mikey started to cough before he hacked up the key card.

"Raph better appreciate this" Mikey groaned.

"I'm not touching that key card" Donnie said as he approached the slimy key card, "At least, not anymore than I have too"

Donnie used his foot to press a button on the key card and the wrist guards disappeared. Then he pressed another button and the tattoos peeled right off. Then he pressed another button and opened the doors up. They peeked out and watched as the guards passed through the doors.

"Five seconds before the lock resets" Leo whispered.

Once the guards were gone, they all made a run for the door, Mikey trailing a bit behind since he still felt sick from throwing up.

"Move" Leo said and he and Donnie slide under the door way.

"You try moving after losing your lunch" Mikey groaned as he leapt out.

But he slid right to the door, so Leo and Donnie had to pull him all the way through. They soon started to trail the halls to look for the solitary confinement room.

"I've got a question" Mikey asked as they continued through the walls.

"Can't it wait?" Donnie asked.

"No" Mikey said, "What are we gonna tell Raph? You know, about Viola?"

Donnie and Leo stopped and looked at each other, they knew he was right about bringing up that subject.

"And I'm not telling him, I took the dive for playing sick even when I wasn't playing" Mikey objected before his brothers could say anything.

"Ok, I'll break it to him" Leo offered.

"Good idea, you can handle him better" Donnie said.

They soon stopped in front of a door.

"Now, if I read my Triceratianies correctly, this should be where they're holding Raph" Donnie said and used the key card to open the door. But when the door opened, it was a janitor's closet.

"Uh, maybe we should see what's behind door number two?" Mikey suggested.

Donnie walked in and walked back out with a broom, twirling it around like his bo staff and Mikey rushed in excitedly.

"At least it's not a total lost" Donnie said.

"Hey, what do you think?" Mikey asked as he held up two connected brushes.

"That I don't want to know where those brushes have been"

Leo then came out, twirling two toilet plungers, "Not exactly katanas but"

A banging noise was heard just down from them and they made their way towards the door to where the noise came from and Donnie used the key card to open the door revealing Raph.

"What took you guys so long?" Raph questioned.

"Something came up" Mikey said, then his stomach was making a weird noise, "Actually, a lot of something came up"

"Trust me, you don't wanna know" Leo said.

"Where's Viola?" Raph asked.

His brothers tensed up a bit and Mikey and Donnie stepped back for Leo to take the heat.

"Uh Raph" Leo started and placed a hand on his shoulder, "After you were taken away, we tried to get to Viola, but she was taken away to the Triceratons Prime Leader"

"She-she was what?!" Raph shouted.

"We'll get her back, once we're out of the prison, we can make our way to her"

"And if she's with the Prime Leader, so must the Professor" Donnie said.

"Two birds with one stone" Mikey said.

"Well what are we waiting for? You bring me a weapon at least?"

Leo reached into his belt and pulled out two spoons and handed them to Raph, who looked more upset than he did a second ago.

"Come on, we can access the drainage system this way" Leo said.

The turtles managed to make it outside, but the alarm was sounding and the search lights were looking around.

"Congratulations guys, we just made early release" Donnie said, but then a search light shined on them.

The Triceratons then came out and began to surround the turtles.

"Subdue the prisoners!" a guard ordered.

When the other guard pressed the button, it didn't do anything and the turtles were looking a little smug about it. When the turtles readied their weapons, the guards laughed, but then Leo threw the plunger over the guards' mouth before leaping out at them and knocking them down. Then all of them soon charged in as well; they all managed to defeat the guards with their substitute weapons. But their victory was cut short when more Triceratons came in with guns and started to shoot at them.

"Set your blasters on stun, the Prime Leader wants them alive!" the guard said as the others set the guns on stun.

"If we're going down, we're gonna take a piece of them with us!" Leo shouted and they all charged.

But they barely made it to the guards before they were shock and stunned.

"Words come down from the top" the Triceraton informed, "They are to be shipped off to the games"

A ship soon came in and settled on the ground, the door opening up as the Triceratons picked the turtles up.

"So, what are exactly are these games?" Mikey asked.

"For you off dwellers, search and doom!" the Triceraton laughed as they lead the turtles to the ship.

"Where's Viola?" Raph shouted, "What did you do with her?"

"You mean the female, I'll humor you; you have to fight for her if you want her, that is if you live"

The ship had soon lead to a arena and then they were pushed towards a large door way that opened up to reveal a large stadium with a large purple tentacle monster inside. The Triceraton released the turtles wrists and then pushed them into the stadium and shut the door behind them, leaving them with the monster and the cheering crowd.

"You know, I'm really starting to miss the Shredder right about now" Mikey said as he watched the monster raise a tentacle to them.


	22. Turtles in Space Part 4: The Arena

The turtles stood face to face with a blob monster and everyone in the arena is in a roaring cheer, then, two sports announcers spoke out to the crowd.

"Good morning fellow sorians and guest species" one announcer said enthusiastically, "Welcome once again to the Tri-Sports Arena"

"We got some line up for this full day of games" another announcer said, "Should be quiet a spectacle for our record attendance today Raz"

"Alright Zed, let's see this morning's first event"

"Yeah, the alien turtles vs the Spasmasaur, looks to be exciting"

"Or over really quickly"

"So" Leo spoke as he took a stance, "This is the games huh?"

"I was hoping for something more Parcheesi-like" Mikey lightly joked.

The Spasmasaur roared and bared its fangs at the turtles, then it flung one of its tentacles at the turtles and they managed to dodge it in time.

"They're expecting us to fight that thing?" Donnie questioned.

"No, they're excepting that thing to eat us" Raph rephrased.

"Well, let's see if we can give it a little indigestion!" Leo shouted as he charged at the beast.

But the monster smacked Leo down before he could even tough it.

"Ohh, that's got to hurt Raz" Zed said amusingly, "Those aliens had better come up with a better tactic or this fight is gonna be a short one"

Mikey helped Leo up on his feet and they both looked at Donnie and Raph. They gave a short nod and the four of them charged at once towards the monster, but it only knocked them down with a couple of swipes. It had Leo in its grip and Raph and Donnie jumped in to try and kick at it, but it only grabbed them as well, shaking them around. The monster then tried to eat Raph, but he managed to kick back at it before he got anywhere near its mouth.

"Hang on bros!" Mikey called out and charged into the fight.

Mikey jumped onto the monsters back and was about to land a kick, but the monster smacked him down and let Raph go. Then when Raph tried t counter attack, the monster strikes him away again. Then Leo manages to break free from the beasts grip and jumped on its head and started to repeatedly hitting it, causing only minor effect. During that distraction, Donnie managed to break free as well and the four gathered together and the announcers were surprised by their actions.

"Do you think we hurt it?" Mikey questioned as he tried to catch his breath.

"Not enough" Leo answered.

The monster then made another attack on the turtles and they were able to keep its tentacles away from them.

"The elasticity of its flesh is too resilient!" Donnie said as he blocked the tentacles.

"And it's really rubbery too!" Mikey added.

Leo had looked back at the giant statue of what was their Prime Leader, "Guys, we gotta run!"

"No way, I never run!" Raph objected.

"Come on, follow my lead!"

They all soon began to follow Leo, but Raph was hesitant about following, too stubborn to run away. But when the monster was about to crush him, he soon ran to catch up with his brothers.

"Here comes ugly!" Mikey shouted as the monster was gaining on them.

"Now everybody, when I say jump!" Leo called out as they closed in on the statue, "Jump!"

The turtles bounced off the wall and it caused the monster to crash into it. The impact caused a vibration that made the statue topple over and crush the monster. The crowd cheered wildly for the turtles. The three stood still while Mikey did a gloating dance to entertain the crowd. But when Mikey finished his little victory dance, three Triceratons came flying towards them.

"Look, if it's about wrecking that big statue, it was all his idea" Mikey said as he pointed to Leo.

The Triceratons began to use laser to shoot at the turtles, making them back up. While they were backing up, a trap door opened up behind them, and when the Triceratons continued to shoot at them, they fell into the trap door. The turtles fell until they landed in a pile of hay.

"An elevator would've been nice" Donnie said.

"Can't say much about the décor" Leo said as he looked to see different species in the room.

"Or our new roommates" Mikey said.

"It's just another kind of prison" Raph growled.

"Exactly, which is why we need to start figuring another way out of here" Leo said.

Soon, a bunch of aliens were closing in on them.

"There's only one way out here off-worlder, and you will find it soon enough!" an inmate said threateningly and laughed menacingly.

"You newbie's will not survive to see tomorrows dawn" a Triceraton said from the corner, "You are slaves now like the rest of us. The games will be the end of us all"

"Who's mister sunshine" Raph said sarcastically.

"That is Traximus the Mighty" a hairy inmate informed, "Undefeated champion of the games, you will do well to address him with respect!"

A white light flashed and a deep voice rang out, "Listen up meat!" everyone looked up to see a Triceraton with an electric whip in his fist, "Tonight, you slaves shall have the honor of fighting for the amusement of our beloved Prime Leader! I want you all to die well and with much aplomb" everyone groaned and he cracked his whip, "Do you hear me meat?!"

"Yes Master Gruell!" everyone chimed.

"Gruell, nice name" Mikey teased.

"Hmm, I seem to be missing something" Gruell said as he broke off a piece of his horn and used it to pick his teeth, "Ah yes, practice dummies! You four turtles will be my new dummies!"

"You calling me a dummy?" Mikey questioned angrily.

"Wouldn't be the first time Mikey" Donnie teased and the four laughed.

"Silence!" Gruell shouted and cracked his whip at them, "You won't be laughing for long, turtles"

The turtles were soon standing in a line with the other fighters in front of them and Gruell was standing behind them near a huge one eyed monster.

"Shock staff practice!" Gruell shouted, "Remember practice dummies!" he cracked his whip at the four, "No hands! Commence!"

The aliens started up their electric staffs and charged at the turtles, but they dodged them easily. When Raph dodged an attack, he kicked one of the aliens down near Traximus and he smirked at them. Leo was being attack by twin aliens and he jumped up in the air to dodge the electric staffs and he made them shock each other.

Mikey was fighting off an alien and he swept his leg under him, knocking him down and he yawned sarcastically, "Nice moves, for somebody's grandma"

"I don't know" Donnie called out as he jumped over an alien and kicked him down, "We fought tougher grandmas than this"

"Stop!" Gruell shouted as he stepped past the fallen fighters and started to crack his whip angrily, "Enough! Weapons practice with extra rations to any gladiator that can take these four off-worlders down!" then he looked over at Traximus, "You too slave!"

Traximus growled, but reluctantly stood up and grabbed his weapon. The turtles stood back to back as they were surrounded by the armed gladiators.

"Things look pretty ugly" Leo said.

"That's just Mikey" Raph taunted.

"I'm afraid you must be mistaken bro, because I was voted most likely to brighten any room with my smile" Mikey joked.

"Well, good luck brightening this one" Donnie said gravely.

The gladiators charged at the turtles and Mikey was being attack by one with a double sided mace. He only dodged its attack for a while before knocking it back into a rack of weapons. Raph was then being attack by one with a double sided spear and he easily dodged its attacks as well before kicking him down.

Leo was face to face with Traximus as he raised his axe to him, but when he brought it down, Leo caught it between his hands and kicked him over in the air and landed in the one eyed monsters pen.

Leo looked over and saw that Donnie was being pinned against two and when they both charged at him, Leo rushed over and pushed him out of the way. When the bigger alien knocked the smaller one down, Leo grabbed the swords it was using and counter attacked the larger alien.

"Anybody got a weapon I can borrow!" Donnie shouted as he ran from the hairy alien.

Mikey was facing against an alien with a trident and he managed to grab a pair of maces, "Special delivery for Mr. Donatello!" Mikey said as he knocked the trident out of the aliens hands.

The trident flew through the air and was pierced into the ground before Donnie ran to grab it and then blocked the hairy aliens trident. But then another alien came by and knocked Donnie to the ground. While he was shakily getting up, two of the aliens came up and raised their weapons. Raph saw this and was just about to jump in, but then a figure blurred in and tripped the hairy alien down and jumped out to kick the four armed alien down.

"Viola!" the turtles shouted in glee as they saw Viola stood over Donnie to protect him.

But she looked a bit beaten up, her left sleeve was missing, parts of her pants were shredded, her mid-drift was showing, her face was slightly bruised and her hair was a bit tangled up, but she still looked stronger than ever and ready to fight.

"You imbeciles!" Gruell shouted, "How could you have let her escape?!"

Gruell was charging forward towards Viola and cracked his whip at her, but before it would even touch her, Raph jumped in and used the trident to catch the electric whip.

"As long as I'm still kicking, you will not lay a hand on her!" Raph shouted as he tugged the whip from Gruells hand.

Gruell tried to run away, but Raph used the whip to snatch his foot and made him fall face first into some kind of purple pile that didn't look to pretty.

"Thanks Viola, it's good to see a friendly face" Donnie said as he stood up and grabbed the trident, then he saw that the four armed alien was charging at them, "This one's on me" Donnie then tripped the gladiator and after that, the three stood around Viola, happy to see that she was alright.

"Good to see you girl!" Mikey cheered and hugged Viola tightly.

"Ow-ow!" Viola lightly cried out and pried herself from Mikey.

"Sorry" Mikey apologized.

"It's cool, it's just minor bruises, but I'm alright" Viola reassured, "I may be small, but I'm a feisty"

The four looked over and saw that Leo was still faced against Traximus. Traximus charged at Leo, but he swiftly blocked the attack and did a flip kick, then after he blocked another attack, he kicked Traximus down and stood over him and he tried to catch his breath.

"Finish me" Traximus said, "It is your right as victor, and you would be doing this slave a favor"

Leo raised his swords and Traximus closed his eyes as he waited for the blow, but Leo threw the swords down and held his hand out for Traximus's. He looked surprised by his offer, but he took it nonetheless. The other turtles and Viola soon gathered around the two and looked over to see that Gruell pulled himself out of the purple goo.

"Guards!" Gruell shouted.

A few guards came in and surrounded the six and they reluctantly dropped their weapons. Then Gruell had reached out and grabbed Viola by the metal collar that was wrapped around her neck that was finally noticed by the others and he lifted her up in the air.

"You let her go!" Raph shouted and was about to attack, but two guards blocked him.

Viola struggled against Gruell's grip before kicked him in the face, causing him to drop her and she flipped backwards away from him. But then Gruell pulled out what looked like the key card at the prison and pressed a button on it. Viola's collar then sparked and she screamed out in pain as it stunned and knocked her to the ground.

"This one seems to need extra lessons!" Gruell growled as he picked Viola up by the collar.

He started to drag her towards the other end of the room towards one of the pens and tossed her in it. Then a beam of light lit up from a hole in the pen and connected itself to Viola's collar. The turtles tried to fight their way past the guards.

"If you don't knock it off, I will fry her!" Gruell threatened and he held the key card out.

The turtles stopped their struggle and glared at Gruell with more hatred than when they arrived. Afterwards, the turtles were in line to get some food.

"Take your last meal!" Gruell growled, "I hope you slave trash choke on it!"

"Hey look, Gruell's serving gruel" Donnie joked.

"Nice one Donnie!" Viola laughed from the pen.

"What is that smell?" Leo questioned.

"I hope its Gruell and not the food" Raph joked.

"As always, you guys know how to make a bad situation seem a little brighter" Viola said.

But when the turtles made it to the front, Gruell just had this fake pity look, "Ha, there's no more food, all gone. My apologies. Move along!"

The turtles were now sitting at the table with an empty tray and stomach.

"Man, I'm so hungry, even that yellowy slop looks good" Mikey groaned.

Traximus, who was sitting beside of Leo, scooped some of his food up and placed it on Leo's tray, "Eat, you will need your strength"

The others soon placed some of their food in the other turtles tray as well.

"Thank you" Leo said to Traximus.

"No, thank you" Traximus said, "We have been living as slaves for so long, I had almost forgotten what it was like to fight with honor"

"I don't mean any disrespect, Traximus, but what's a Triceraton like you doing locked up in here with the rest of us 'gladiator slime'?"

"Because I believe in the Triceraton Republic, the real republic. You see once, we Triceratons valued truth and honor above all things. But now, we have a dictatorship that craves victory and enterprise, corruption and greed have robbed us of all our noble warrior heritage. I spoke out thus too often and too loudly against our 'honorable' Prime Leader and soon found myself here, locked away as a slave. But you, you have reminded me of honor and battle; and I hope to find a way to repay you"

Mikey was licking at his plate loudly and then held it out, "Seconds would be nice" his brothers gave him a look, "What?"

"We were thinking about Viola rather than food" Donnie said.

"We have to find a way to get her out of that collar" Raph said as they looked back to see Viola sitting on the railings of her pen.

Two guards were posted at her pen, armed with weapons. Another guard soon came by with a tray full of food that actually looked good and placed it in her pen.

"Hey, why does she get food that actually looks good to eat?" Mikey whined.

"By orders of the Prime Leader" Traximus answered.

"But she's also a slave here" Leo pointed out, "She was bruised up quite a bit when she jumped in on the fight"

"That wasn't from battle practice, that was from training"

"Training?" Donnie questioned, "So she's being force to become a gladiator too?"

"No, she is being trained so that she will become the Prime Leaders bride"

"WHAT?!" Raph shouted in anger.

"I presume she is a friend of yours?" Traximus guessed and the turtles nodded, "She was brought from the prison to the Prime Leader to see what was to be dealt with her. She was at first to be a gladiator, but, as a warrior race, she was presented as beauty and strength by the Prime Leader and was ordered to become his bride. I heard that she fought his top guards and managed to defeat them all without breaking a sweat. So she was brought here to be trained"

"We have to bail out of here, there is no way that she's going to become some three horned old dinosaurs bride-to-be!" Raph growled in anger.

"Because she's already going to be some flat faced cranky turtles bride-to-be" Mikey teased and his brothers laughed.

"I assume that you have feelings for the off-worlder female?" Traximus said.

"What? No!" Raph denied.

"That's Raph's way of saying yes" Donnie corrected.

"Shut it!"

"Let me go!"

The turtles turned to see that two of the guards were leading Viola out of her pen, one of them was standing behind her and had her hands pinned behind her and the one in front had a grip on the white leash to her collar.

"Where're they taking her?!" Raph questioned angrily as he stood up from his seat.

"Raph, sit!" Viola called out when she saw that he was about to cause a commotion, "I'll be fine, just look out for your brothers and chill!"

Viola was lead out of the underground prison, leaving the turtles to wonder where she was being taken and what was going to happen to her.

"Don't worry Raph" Leo said as he sat back down in his seat, "She's strong and smart, she can handle herself just fine"

"Heh" Raph laughed slightly, "You know, I don't think it's her that I'm going to worry about, it's those who come near her"

In the arena, everyone is gathered, cheering for the oncoming fight. The Prime Leader Zanramon and his commanding officer Mozar were overlooking the arena as the turtles and other gladiator slaves rose up from an elevator into the arena.

"My fellow sorians!" Zanramon announced, "I am proud to lead the Triceraton Republic and I am also proud to give you this day of games!"

The crowd cheered excitedly. Zanramon then looked back to see that the guards had brought in Viola, and she had her feet chained together and her hands were chained behind her back and she was wearing something different. She was wearing a white gown and her hair was pulled into a high messy bun and decorated with flowers, but her face was still slightly bruised and she was barefooted. She was giving a death glare to Zanramon as she came in.

"Ah, my queen has arrived" Zanramon said as he stood in front of her.

"The day I become your girl is the day pigs fly" Viola snapped calmly.

"Don't be so upset, you get to see an old acquaintance" Zanramon said as he looked back to see Mozar bring in Professor Honeycutt, "Professor Honeycutt, just in time to enjoy the spectacle"

"Professor Honeycutt!" Viola cried out in joy when she saw him come in.

"Viola!" Professor Honeycutt gasped when he saw her bruised face, "What happened to you my dear?"

"Never mind about me" Viola said and turned towards the arena to look down as the turtles faced the other gladiators, "It's the boys"

Professor Honeycutt walked over to look into the arena and gasped, "This is barbaric!"

"Tonight's special event!" Zanramon announced, "Shall be all gladiators against the four terrapin off-worlders! A fight to the death!"

"No!" Professor Honeycutt cried out.

"Yes" Zanramon said with a smirk, "Unless you construct the telepotal device for me" Professor Honeycutt looked down at the arena and back at Zanramon, "No? Then let the games begin!"

The crowd cheered. Down in the arena, the turtles looked up at where Zanramon was.

"Hey look, Viola's with the Professor!" Mikey pointed out.

Traximus then charged at Mikey and he cringes as he raised his sword, but he threw it down just near Mikey and he winked at him and Mikey smiled with gratitude.

"We will not fight!" Traximus called out, "We will no longer die to amuse the Prime Leader, his time is at an end!"

"Ha, in your beak you old dinosaur" Viola gloated.

"What?" Zanramon questioned angrily, "Guards seize them!"

Triceratons on flew down towards the gladiators and started to shoot at them, a door opened up behind them as they were backed up into it and the door closed.

"This is your last chance!" Zanramon growled at Professor Honeycutt, "Build me the telepotal device or your friends will perish!"

"Never!" Professor Honeycutt said firmly.

"You have sealed their fate" Zanramon said and turned to the crowd, "Sorians, I give you Monza Ram and his All-Star warriors!"

A door had opened up and a bunch of Triceraton warriors armed with weapons came out and stood across from the turtles. The turtles took a stance with their weapons poised as the All-Stars did the same. Zanramon then rang a triangular gong and the fight broke out. As the fight was going, the turtles were almost knocked down, but they easily made their counter attack and were swiftly knocking the All-Star team down.

The crowd was impressed and amazed by how the turtles were fighting and when they finally took down the All-Star team. Viola and Professor Honeycutt looked back to see Zanramon looking very angry and he gave a thumbs down. The crowd didn't seem happy about their Prime Leaders decision and started to chant 'live' for the turtles.

"I don't think he's gonna let us live" Donnie said gravely.

"Then let's not leave it up to him" Raph said.

The turtles looked up to see hovercrafts that had built in cameras surrounding them.

"Mikey, how about a little slingshot action" Donnie suggested.

"Gotcha!" Mikey said.

Mikey held his nunchaku out to Raph and Donnie jumped on the nunchaku and up to the hovercraft. Donnie grabbed the Triceraton in the craft and tossed him out and drove down to pick up his brothers. The turtles hoped in the craft and flew towards Zanramon.

But he had called the guards and they came in shooting at the turtles, and that caused them to fly out of control and crash into the building. The turtles jumped down to surround Zanramon, but they had soon found themselves surrounded by a herd of guards in front of them and the flying once behind them.

Leo then jumped towards Zanramon and held his sword at his throat, "Drop your weapons or you'll be looking for a new leader!"

"You'll never make it out of here!" Zanramon said, "You'll be shot down by dogs!"

Raph used his sai to grab the front of Zanramons shirt, "Zip it windbag, you're our ticket out of here!"

"Man, I sure hope they're really fond of this Zanramon guy" Mikey said nervously as they were surrounded everywhere, "Really, really fond!"


	23. Turtles in Space Part 5: Triceraton Wars

The turtles, Viola and Professor Honeycutt were standing surrounded by a bunch of Triceratons as they held their Prime Leader Zanramon captive.

"Drop the hardware or your Prime Leader's lizard cutlets" Raph threatened.

"Do...do as he says" Zanramon ordered.

The Triceratons dropped their laser guns and backed up as the turtles grabbed the laser guns.

"Professor Honeycutt" Viola spoke, "Do you mind cutting me free?"

"Of course my dear" Professor Honeycutt said and replaced his hand with a small buzz saw and cut the chains on Viola's wrists and ankles.

"So what do we do now Fearless Leader?" Raph questioned.

"I don't know" Leo said as he handed Raph a laser gun, "I'm trying to think with all that racket overhead"

The announcers kept on talking and talking about what was happening and nobody could think straight. Viola groaned and grabbed the laser gun from Raph's hand and shot at the monitor to stop the announcers chattering.

"That help?" Viola said as she handed Raph, who was surprised, but impressed, the gun back.

"Actually, yes" Leo said, "Ok, let's try this: Professor Honeycutt, take us to your lab, Prime Leader, you're coming with us, and everyone else stay put and don't move a muscle"

"You're so good at this, it's scary" Viola said as they all started to back up.

"So, when's the wedding?" Mikey joked.

"Mikey, my patience and self-control is wearing thin right now; don't ask me if we're having the fish or chicken"

As they were backing up, the guards were stalking towards them and grabbed their laser guns. But as they turned a corner, the guards start to shoot at them.

"Call off your goons, now!" Raph shouted and shoved Zanramon forward.

"Hold your fire and pull back!" Zanramon called out.

The guards stopped shooting and Raph pulled Zanramon back to them.

"Which way to the lab?" Leo asked.

"Well, there are exactly several roots" Professor Honeycutt informed, "The Triceratons home world with its interconnected network of asteroid cities is a bit of a maze really"

"Show us the fastest way spike" Raph demanded and pointed the laser gun at Zanramon, "Now!"

"As you wish" Zanramon said.

Zanramon then walked to a wall and pressed a secret button, opening up a secret doorway that sucked them into a slide. They soon fell through a hole and landed roughly in a lab.

"You wanted fast didn't you?" Zanramon said.

"I got your fast right here!" Raph said threateningly as he held the laser gun at him.

"Raph, calm down, we're in the lab, that's all that matters" Viola said as she stood up.

"Mikey, give me a hand welding the doors and hatches shut" Leo said, "Don, help Professor Honeycutt gather up everything he needs to construct his teleportal"

"You got it!" Mikey said.

"Uh-hu" Donnie said and hey both did what they were told.

"Raph you got guard duty" Leo said.

"Yeah, whatever" Raph groaned.

"Viola, you got guard duty on Raph" Leo slightly joked.

Raph was about to say something, but Viola just covered his mouth to keep him from saying it.

"Excuse me Leonardo" Professor Honeycutt spoke, "You don't actually intend for me to build the telepotal do you?"

"It may be the only way to solve the problem" Leo said and then rushed off to help Mikey.

"But if I'm captured, the knowledge will surely fall into the wrong hands"

"You can use it to transport yourself and the device somewhere the Federation and Triceratons can't follow, like earth for instance"

"If you don't build the teleportal, we'll never get home to rescue Master Splinter" Donnie added.

"Yes, by all means, help your friends" Zanramon spoke, "Build the teleportal"

"You keep out of this" Raph threatened.

"The danger will always exist, whether or not you build the teleportal" Leo said.

"What's to stop them from ripping apart your robot body and downloading all the data from your brain" Donnie said.

"Slag, why didn't I think of that?" Zanramon said as he facepalmed himself.

"You do that and we'll see what gets ripped apart next" Viola threatened.

"Even when threatening, you're still a gem" Viola just glared irritably at Zanramon.

"Good one Don" Mikey scolded.

"I'm sorry" Donnie apologized.

"Yes, I see" Professor Honeycutt said, then he snatched the laser gun from Raph's hand and pointed it at his head, "I'm afraid the only sensible solution is to blast me into scrap metal right now"

"Wait, Professor, I was just saying, I didn't mean..." Donnie said gravely.

"Please" Leo pleaded, "You're our only hope"

Professor Honeycutt sighed and handed Raph the gun, "Alright. But you must promise me one thing: if all goes wrong, if it looks like we are to be captured, then you must destroy me so that my knowledge will never be used for evil and destruction"

"It won't come to that" Leo reassured.

"But, if it does come to that, you swear on your honor to destroy me?"

Everyone was hesitant as they looked at each other before looking back at Professor Honeycutt, "We swear"

Leo then turned to look at Zanramon, "Where's the fastest ship out of here?"

"Hmm, not let me think" Zanramon said vaguely, "You four turtles, Professor Honeycutt and the female will have to make your escape in my personal cruiser, it's in my private space dock header"

"Looks like you'll be a runaway bride Viola" Mikey joked.

Viola turned to raise a questioning, almost threatening, eyebrow at Mikey and he yelped in fright as he hid behind Raph, who chuckled at his cowering brother. After they gathered what they needed for the Professor to build the teleportal, they grabbed a hovercraft and made their way towards Zanramons private cruiser.

"My ship is in the next bay" Zanramon informed.

As they were making their way towards the cruiser, a crashing noise was heard and they turned to see the guards hidden with laser guns.

"Guys, get down!" Leo warned, "It's a trap!"

The guards came out and started to fire at them. Leo drew his katanas and jumped down to fight the guards up front while the others used their laser guns to watch Leo's back.

"Mikey, fire overhead!" Donnie said and started to fire at the ceiling.

When they shot at the ceiling, the roof collapsed and crushed a few of the guards. They had soon backed up to the space cruiser, but the guards continued to fire at them.

"Order your troops to stand down!" Raph demanded, "Now!"

"Stand down!" Zanramon ordered, "I order you to-AHHH!"

The guards had shot at the hovercraft and it caused Zanramon to fall off onto the platform.

"What about our hostage?" Raph questioned.

"No time!" Leo said, "Leave him!"

Professor Honeycutt lowered the hovercraft down until they were in the cruise ship. Then they rushed towards the pilot station and while Professor Honeycutt was figuring out how to start the ship, Mikey was messing around in the head chair, so Raph smacked him in the back of the head to get him to stop.

Professor Honeycutt replaced his hand with a small device and hooked it into the ship, "Isn't it fortuitist that my robot body comes equip with a piloting program?"

The ship had soon started up and flew at a fast rate out the exit and through space. But as they were escaping, they looked on the screen to see that some of the guards were chasing after them.

"Looks like someone doesn't want us to leave" Raph said as the ship shook as the guards fired at them.

"Is there any way to ditch them?" Viola asked as she held onto the chair to keep balance.

"Ah yes" Professor Honeycutt said as he pressed some buttons, "Let's see, evasive maneuver subder ective eight, accessing miles now. Hang on my friends!"

The ship had soon gone faster and was maneuvering swiftly around the Triceratons floating world. As they were flying around to escape, they managed to cause one of the guards to crash, then they flew through a hole and it caused another of the guards to crash.

Then when they exited, they flew up over the Triceratons home world and made a turn around and crashed into the last of the guards. And through that all, Mikey kept saying that they were striking them out and it was getting annoying. They soon piloted their way into space to try and find a safe place for the Professor to build his teleportal.

"Well gentlemen and lady, it should be fairly smooth sailing from this point" Professor Honeycutt said.

"Uum" Viola spoke as she looked on the screen to see other Triceraton home-like worlds floating in front of them.

"Unless of course we happen to run into the entire Triceraton's space fleet"

_"Attention Professor Honeycutt, this is commander Mozar" _Mozar spoke on an intercom, _"Return at once to the Triceraton home world or face the wrath of the Republics fiercest warriors!" _

They looked on the screen and saw that there were multiple ships flying towards them.

"Can't say I'm happy with our choices" Leo said gravely, and then reached to push a lever forward, making them go faster.

As they were flying at a fast rate, the other ships flew out of the way to keep from getting hit.

"Fiercest warriors huh?" Viola questioned with a small smirk.

But they were soon being chased and fired at.

"Master Splinter always says there is no greater weapon than the unexpected" Leo phrased.

"Hmm, I must really meet this Master Splinter someday" Professor Honeycutt said.

"But we have to be alive for that someday to come" Viola called out as the ship shook violently.

"We ain't out of the woods yet!" Raph said as he and Mikey rushed into the gun stations.

Donnie rushed forward and hoped into the seat and started to press some buttons, "Better get the shields up and running!"

Mikey and Raph were soon firing at the other ships and they managed to take one down.

"Feeling confident in your piloting skills?" Leo asked.

"Oh yes, rather" Professor Honeycutt answered.

"Good, let's try to lose them in that asteroid field"

Professor Honeycutt flew and maneuvered through the asteroid field, causing the rest of the ships to crash.

"Well, everyone" Professor Honeycutt spoke, "I'd say the difficult part is over"

"We can't be too sure about that, they'll eventually be reinforcements" Viola stated.

"She's just pure sunshine isn't she?" Mikey said a little sarcastically.

"I'm only stating the truth, we've caused too much damage to be let go of"

"She's right" Leo agreed, "We have to be on high alert, we can't let our guard down until we are in the teleportal device and back home"

"What the heck is that?!" Viola questioned as she looked at a screen that showed a giant white light.

The whole ship had begun to quake violently and they looked at the screen to see some ships coming through it.

"Oh my" Professor Honeycutt said gravely.

"And the really difficult part is beginning" Leo said.

On the bigger screen, General Blanque appeared, _"Hello Professor Honeycutt, I believe you have something that belongs to me; or should I say you are something that belongs to me! Did you really think the Federation would give up its most valued scientific mind without a fight?"_

"They want a fight, let's show them where they can find one" Leo said.

They soon turned their ship around and fled as the Federation gave chase, firing at the ship. They flew back through the asteroid field and made their way towards the Triceratons space fleet.

"I think it's time our friends get reacquainted" Leo said.

Once they made sure that the Federation and the Triceratons met halfway, they flew out of the battle and let them face each other on the field.

"We can't avoid them forever" Donnie said.

"We don't need forever" Leo said, "Just enough time for you and Professor Honeycutt to build that teleportal"

"Hmm" Professor Honeycutt looked at the screen to see an empty looking planet, "That planetoid should provide an ideal spot to construct the teleportal device" They soon landed their ship on the planet, "You fellows will need atmosphere suits to work outside the ships"

Viola had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud as she saw the turtle swearing oversize space suits that were meant for Triceratons rather than turtles.

"Fortunately the Prime Leader cruiser is stocked with special formfitting suits that can configure to a multitude of alien anatomies"

The turtles pressed a button on their suits and they started to shrink down to their size, then Mikey came in and his suit was still a larger size.

"Unfortunately there's only three of them" Mikey said and his brothers laughed.

"Actually four" Raph corrected as he held up another suit, "But this one's for Viola"

"That's not fair!" Mikey whined.

"It's perfectly fair" Donnie said, "She's way too small to lug around in a Triceraton suit"

"Uhh...thanks?" Viola said vaguely.

Raph, Donnie and Professor Honeycutt left the ship and began to construct the teleportal while Mikey, Leo and Viola stayed inside to look out for any detection from the enemy. But after some time had passed, an alarm went off.

"Guys" Mikey called out to the three outside, "I'm picking up massive energy signals on the scanner; looks like the Federation and Triceraton fighters are heading our way!"

"We need more time!" Professor Honeycutt exclaimed.

"You'll have to stall them" Donnie suggested.

"How?" Leo questioned.

"Just keep them talking, anything to stall them from attacking"

Mikey sat down in a chair and was pressing buttons, "Hope this thing has three-way calling" Mikey managed to connect to the Federation and Triceratons and gave a thumbs up to Leo, who sat down in the head chair.

"You play the role perfectly" Viola stated.

"General Blanque, Commander Mozar" Leo called out, "I am Leonardo of the planet earth, I demand an immediate seize fire!"

_"And why should we agree to your command earthling?"_ Mozar questioned.

"Because, if you blow us up, you'll blow up Professor Honeycutt with us, then nobody gets the teleportal. However, we'll give up the fugitoid for a price"

"We will?" Mikey questioned.

"Shh" Viola hushed, "He's stalling for time"

"But first, we'll uh, need to broker a truce between the Federation and the Triceratons, we want insurances that neither side will use the teleportal technology for destructive purposes"

_"Agreed"_ the two immediately said, which wasn't turning out as a good stalling time.

"Wait!" Mikey called out, "Don't you guys want to like argue about it some more?"

_"No"_ Mozar said, _"The Triceraton Republic is eager to settle this matter peacefully"_

_"The Federation is equally eager to avoid unnecessary conflict"_ General Blanque agreed.

_"Now bring us the fugitoid!"_ the two demanded.

"Uhh" Leo said nervously, wondering what he could say to give them more time, "Ok, but first we'll need to-" Leo looked out the front and saw Raph waving for them, "-finalize your agreement, in writing of course, that is, once we conduct a neutral meeting place mutually expectable to both sides"

_"Naturally, the Federation will require insurances of non-aggression from the Triceratons"_ General Blanque said.

_"We Triceratons have always honored our treaties"_ Mozar said, _"It is the Federation who must pervade insurances of non-aggression"_

_"Are you accusing us of treachery lizard!"_

_"You Federation slime didn't force a hundred and fifty planets under your rule by acting honorably!"_

_"Well, maybe if you Triceraton buffoons hadn't blown up your own home world, you wouldn't be living on a bunch of floating rock fragments!"_

"This is better than a daytime talk show" Mikey said as he sat at the stairs with Viola beside of him.

"Nice work General" Viola praised and she and Leo high-fived.

"How're we doing out there Professor?" Leo asked, "Did we buy you enough time?"

"I'm gonna say" Raph started, then a few of the Federation ships flew overhead of them, "No"

The ships soon started to fire at them, causing the ship to shake violently.

"Come on, let's move!" Leo called out as he and Mikey ran towards the gun station.

Then some Triceration ship flew into the battle as well. The ships had soon landed on the ground and the pilots got out of their ships and started firing at each other. Leo, Mikey and Viola soon ran out towards the others.

"Please tell me you're ready Don?" Leo pleaded.

"We're ready!" Donnie answered.

"But it hasn't been tested yet!" Professor Honeycutt exclaimed.

But then they were being shot at.

"No time like the present" Raph said as Leo tossed him a laser gun and he started to fire at the two enemies.

"How about we celebrate with fireworks!" Viola shouted as she rushed forward with a road flare like stick.

She pulled at a tab and threw it as hard as she could and it landed where the Federation were hiding and caused a huge explosion.

"Where'd you get bombs?" Raph questioned.

"Hidden compartment in the cruiser" Viola answered, then threw another one at the Triceratons, causing another explosion.

"She's scarier than you Raph" Mikey teased.

"Hurry up, everyone get inside!" Leo shouted.

Raph, Mikey and Viola soon jumped inside the teleportal and closed the door. Professor Honeycutt soon started the teleportal and it started to hum and brighten up. But suddenly, the lights started to flicker and the humming noise was dying down.

"I'm guessing it's not supposed to do that" Mikey said.

"Gee, you think?" Raph said.

Everyone soon exited the teleportal.

"Everyone, back to the ship!" Leo called out as he fired at the enemies. A loud humming noise sounded and they looked up to see one of the Triceratons home worlds was floating above them and the bottom of it turned a bright purple and shot a laser beam out at the ship, destroying their only way out.

"Back inside!" Leo shouted and they all ran into the teleportal chamber.

The two enemies continued to fire at each other and the teleportal, causing it to crack.

"The capsule won't hold much longer!" Donnie exclaimed.

"Oh dear!" Professor Honeycutt cried out.

Raph looked around at the breaking glass nervously, then looked over at Viola.

"Viola" Raph spoke as he stood in front of her, "I-I don't know if we're gonna make it out, so... I better say this now because I don't think I'll get another chance"

"Raph?" Viola said, she looked a little confused about what he was talking about.

"I wanted to say that you're the coolest girl I've ever met; you're brave and calm and compassionate all the time, the complete opposite of me. And I... I've always... you know... kind of... liked you"

"L-liked me?"

"Yeah, like as in, you know, if we weren't in this kind of situation, I wondered if you, you know, maybe liked to... go out on a... a date?"

"Oh Raph... I-I-!"

The glass then shattered and parts of the machine fell apart and a fire had spread out around them.

"I'm afraid we have to choice now" Professor Honeycutt called out, "You must destroy me and the knowledge I posses" Professor Honeycutt replaced his hand and a small device came out, "This is an EMP fail safe control, it will overload all my circuitry and wipe out my entire memory core" he handed the control to Leo, "If you don't destroy me now, a weapon of ultimate destruction will fall in the hands of lunatics who will not hesitate to use it!"

"I-I" Leo stammered, he didn't want to destroy Professor Honeycutt, he was their friend who helped them out numerous times when they first arrived on the planet, "I can't"

"You swore, on your honor"

The turtles and Viola looked around and saw that the Federation and the Triceratons were closing in on them. Leo, his brothers and Viola watch anxiously as Leo hovered his thumb over the self-destruct button. When he lowered his thumb down, a bright blue beam of light suddenly fell over them.

"But, how could this be?" Professor Honeycutt questioned confusingly, "My teleportal didn't work"

"Well, somebody's did!" Leo said.

The light had spread out and they were being taken apart bit by bit once again.

"This feels familiar!" Raph called out.

"Yeah, and I didn't like it the first time!" Mikey exclaimed.

The beam had soon taken everyone apart, including the Federation and Triceraton fighters, and they were beamed out to wherever they were heading to next.


	24. Secret Origins Part 1

Winter, Phoebe, Sara, April and Casey were anxiously waiting out in the battle shell, watching the news on TV about what had happened eight hours ago. They all had a horrible sense that the beam of light had involved the turtles and Viola.

"Welcome back to the continuing coverage of our top story" the news anchor reported, "Here's a recap of the events of the last eight hours, as seen here in our exclusive footage caught on home video, a blinding flash lit up downtown and surrounding areas, apparently projected into space. The origin of the flash was the TCRI building, where senior correspondent Alex Carlin is standing by"

The screen changed to a man standing just outside of the TCRI building, "Yes Dwight, the scene here is tense in front of the TCRI building" the screen started to static a bit, "What the?!" the beam of light then started to come back towards the TCRO building, "It's happening again, what in the name of?! Is this the vanguard of some alien invasion?! Or is this the end of life as we know it?"

Back inside of the TCRI building, the beam of light lit up on the panel and the turtles, Professor Honeycutt and Viola were reassembled again.

"They're back!" Mr. Mortu gasped.

"Not this place again" Raph exclaimed as they all stood up and took their space helmets off.

"At least we're back home" Viola said.

"We're home!" Mikey cheered, "Yahoo! We made it!" Mikey then kneeled down and started to kiss the panel.

But the machine kept running and more of the particles were being reassembled behind them and it was three of the Triceratons and three of the Federation soldiers.

"Heads up guys!" Leo called out, "Looks like we brought back some tag along!" The Triceratons and Federation aimed and prepared their guns at each other.

"Rule number one" Raph said as he took his sais out, "Never pick up hitchhikers!"

"No" a voice called out and they looked to see Mr. Mortu walk in, "Remain stationary. Stay calm, we will return you to your native continuity" A fire was shot at Mr. Mortu and he managed to dodge it.

"What is this madness?" one of the Triceratons questioned, "Where are the rest of our warriors?" the Triceraton then looked to see Professor Honeycutt, "The fugitoid! Seize it!"

"Oh dear!" Professor Honeycutt gasped.

"Fire!" one of the Federatons cried out and they all opened fired. The Triceratons fired back, but they jumped off the panel and hid behind it as they continued to fire at the Federation soldiers and they did the same.

"Take cover!" Leo cried out and they tried to dodge the lasers.

Mikey jumped and flipped to dodge the laser, "A welcome home party, you shouldn't have" someone fired at Mikey and shot off part of the tail on his suit, "No, I mean it! You shouldn't have!"

The aliens were floating around the Triceratons and one of them shot at the little alien's hovercraft. Viola gasped and ran to catch the little alien before it hit the ground.

"Deploy Statius beam!" Mr. Mortu called out to the little alien that was still floating.

The little alien's hovercraft opened up at the bottom and a small laser came out and it shot at a Triceraton, making it freeze in place. The little alien floated around the room and froze the rest of the Triceratons and Federation soldiers. The turtles stopped standing a few feet away from the transporting panel. The turtles looked at the little alien that had frozen all the fighters and it looked back at them. Raph glared at the alien, prepared to launch at it.

"My sons, stop!" a familiar voice called out. The turtles and Viola looked to see Splinter, all healed, walk in the room with two of the Guardians.

"Master Splinter?!" Leo exclaimed in relief.

"They are not our enemy" Splinter told and the turtles and Viola were in slight shock. The turtles cheered as they charged for Splinter and hugged him tightly in relief.

"My sons, it's good to see you too" Splinter said, though the tight hugs were starting to hurt him a little, "Please, my spine" the turtles released him, "Here, I want you to meet some friends" Splinter motioned to the two Guardians, "I believe you have met the Guardians" the Guardians bowed their heads, "It was they who found me after the battle with the Shredder and brought me here to these benevolent beings who saved my life. This is my good friend Mr. Mortu" Mr. Mortu had stepped forward to stand in front of them, "Mr. Mortu, these are my sons"

"Um" Leo spoke a little nervously, but then bowed, "Thank you, for saving our sensei" The other turtles and Viola bowed as well. Viola stepped towards the Guardians and handed them the little alien that she was still holding onto.

"Please make sure that he'll be well taken care of" Viola said. The Guardians nodded and took the little alien out of the room.

"But, who are they?" Leo whispered to Splinter, "What are they?"

"They call themselves Utroms" Splinter informed, "And their story is inextricably interwoven with our own. The ooze that originally mutated us all was a byproduct of their experiments, with this transmit device"

"So" Donnie spoke out, "The chemical makeup of the ooze is caused by the interdimensional shift of nonessential subatomic particles"

"But where were we transported!" Mikey exclaimed, "How'd we wind up back here? And what-what-OW!" Raph smacked Mikey in the head to get him to stop.

"All will be explained; first, there is some business to take care of" Mr. Mortu said and turned to the Utrom at the control panel, "Beam these intruders back to their original coordinates"

"Yes sir!" the Utrom said and began to punch in some numbers before the Triceratons and Federation were beamed back to their home world.

"Master Splinter, this is Professor Honeycutt" Leo introduced.

"I must apologize for my present condition" Professor Honeycutt said.

The turtles and Viola removed their suits and listened as Professor Honeycutt retold his story about what had happened to him and what had happened to the turtles and Viola.

"And that's how I came to be here" Professor Honeycutt finished.

"I see my sons had gotten into their usual amount of trouble in the eight hours they've been gone" Splinter said.

"Eight hours!" Leo exclaimed.

"We were gone three weeks" Raph said.

"Perhaps I can explain" Mr. Mortu spoke out, "The exigency of interdimensional travel affects not only the basic laws of three dimensional space, but the fluidity of temporal mechanics as well"

"That. Is so cool!" Donnie exclaimed in excitement.

"Yeah, if it made any sense at all!" Mikey said.

"What the heck is going on here?" Raph questioned.

"My friends, let there be no more secrets between us" Mr. Mortu said. Mr. Mortu moved his tie out of the way and opened his shirt up to reveal an Utrom inside him. The turtles exclaimed in fright and shock. "Follow me, we shall begin at the beginning" the Utrom said, but he stepped forward to stand in front of Viola and held his hand out for hers, "But first, there is something that you must see"

Viola looked nervously at his hand and glanced at Splinter. He nodded his head, showing that she could trust him; she looked back at Mr. Mortu's hand and slowly took it. As she stood up, Mr. Mortu moved his other hand towards Viola's head and she flinched away from him.

"It's alright, I want to see if what I heard was true" Mr. Mortu said and made a second attempt and moved Viola's bangs from her face to tuck behind her ear. The other Utroms around them gasped and began to whisper to each other. "So it is true" Mr. Mortu said.

"What is true?" Viola questioned, wondering why the spotlight was on her.

"Follow me and you shall know the truth" Mr. Mortu placed his arm around Viola's shoulder and began to lead her out of the room with the turtles and Splinter following as well. "In the beginning, when we had arrived on this planet, we also had Guardians to serve and protect our race from the humans" Mr. Mortu explained, "They were chosen based on their loyalty and fighting skills; but there was one who was most treasured by the Utroms"

"But what does that have to do with me?" Viola asked.

"See for yourself" Mr. Mortu said as he opened up a door.

Viola walked in and gasped at what she saw in the room. There was a golden statue that looked exactly like her, but it had short bangs and she was wearing an old fashion Guardian outfit. There was also a painting above it of her as well, but with her hair tied back and she had the old fashion Guardian outfit on with a mask wrapped around her face and she had a hand on her sword. On the right side of the room was the old fashioned Guardian outfit on a mannequin and on the left side of the room was the sheathed sword on a stand just like the one in the picture and statue.

"I-its... it's me!" Viola gasped.

"No, it's not you" Mr. Mortu said as everyone stepped in the room as well, "Though the resemblance is uncanny, this is your ancestor, the first ever Guardian, Varuna"

Viola gasped again, "M-my grandmother... was a Guardian?!"

"Yes, she had saved one of our own, before she became a Guardian, when they were hurt and we trusted her enough for her to become a Guardian"

"I can't believe it" Viola said.

"Whoa Viola, you look exactly like your grandmother" Mikey said.

"I-I heard that before from my aunt, but I didn't think I'd look _exactly_ like her"

"Though it might be a possibility, you must be the reincarnation of Varuna" Mr. Mortu said.

"Reincarnation?!" Viola exclaimed.

"Yes, that you look exactly like Varuna, it was why we were so shocked to see you"

"B-but if she was the first ever Guardian, why did she create the first ever kunoichi?" Viola asked.

"When she found out that she was with child, she had left us for safety reasons for her child and created the kunoichi clan because of all the training she had went through. She had told us that she didn't want any of her offspring to know about the Utroms because she feared that they would be put in danger"

"I can't believe that there was so much more to my ancestry than there was to tell" Viola continued to look around and saw a picture near the statue and she walked over to it; when she got to it, she saw that it was Varuna and she was standing next to a man who was also wearing the Guardian outfit. "Who is that man?" Viola asked.

"That's also your ancestor, your grandfather" Mr. Mortu answered, "He became a Guardian a few months after Varuna"

"Wow, I can't believe my grandmother and grandfather were Guardians, that's... that's incredible" Mr. Mortu walked over to the katana on the stand and picked it up, then he walked over and held it out for Viola. "O-oh no, I couldn't" Viola objected.

"This and the Guardian outfit was all that was left of your grandmother when she was a Guardian, of who she really was. It would be an honor for you to have it, her suppressor" Viola looked at the katana for some time before she took it. She looked at it and tears started to fill up her eyes slightly and she bowed to him. "Now" Mr. Mortu said and started to head for the door, "Let us continue to _our_ beginning"

As everyone began to leave the room, Viola took one last look at the painting and statue and smiled happily and closed the door behind her.

"I can't believe that you're this intertwined with these people" Raph said to Viola.

"Yeah" Viola said as she continued to look at the katana, then she smiled a little as she looked up at Raph, "In some strange way, I was intertwined with you guys as well"

Viola's smile fell and her face turned slightly red and she turned away, she completely forgotten about Raph's confession to her and she hadn't responded yet, she didn't know how to respond. Mr. Mortu had then led the group into another room that had pods in the middle of the room.

"I've seen this movie" Mikey spoke, "We're uh, not gonna have anything burst out of our chest are we?"

"You watch way too many movies Mikey" Viola said.

"This is the Oracle Pod Chamber" Mr. Mortu explained, "Where our race assumes its highest state of communion; where many minds enter into oneness by sharing life experience, inside these pods, you'll be able to share the story of our lives"

"You know, I can't think of one science fiction movie where a pod has been a good thing" Mikey said.

Mr. Mortu walked to a panel and began to press some buttons, "All will be explained. Please, enter the pods" The pod doors had opened up, then Mr. Mortu looked at Viola, "Unfortunately, there are only five, so you will have to stay behind"

"That's fine by me" Viola said, not so keen on getting in the pods in the first place anyways.

The turtles and Splinter entered the pods and were strapped in and the pod doors closed again. Then a weird looking helmet lowered itself and attached to the turtles and Splinters head.

"Prepare yourselves to become one with the sacred memories of the Utroms" Mr. Mortu said as he pressed some more buttons and then started the pods up. The turtles and Splinter were soon transported into some weird place that seemed like another world as yellow light swirled around them.

"Amazing!" Donnie gasped, "Technically, this is only happening in our minds, and we're all sharing the experience simultaneously" The swirling lights soon stopped and they were then standing in a room that seemed similar to the inside of TCRI.

"Whoa dude" Mikey gasped, "We're on a Utrom starship"

"Your blessing on it navigators?" the Utrom at the front of the ship asked to the three Utroms in a chamber pod.

"Your course is straight and true" one of the Utroms said.

"Through the vastness of space and time" the second Utrom said.

"Captain, you have the blessing of-"

"The navigators" the three said at the same time.

"Master Splinter" Leo spoke out, "Your friend Mortu is the captain"

"Ok" Mikey said as he walked to stand in front of the three Utroms in the camber pod, "I'm not even gonna ask about the brains in the jar Mr. Mortu" Mr. Mortu didn't respond to Mikey, "Mr. Mortu? Guys!" Mikey waved to try to get the Utroms attention, "Yo, blob heads! Fine, be that way, snooty Utroms"

"Mikey" Donnie said as he walked to stand beside of him, "This is all Utrom history, it's already happened; we're just experiencing it in our minds. It's like watching a movie in our heads"

"But, it all seems so real" Mikey said and reached for the pod, but his hand went through it and they were back in the swirling light space.

"What's happening?" Raph questioned.

"If it's a movie, maybe we're cutting to the next scene" Mikey said. The swirling lights soon stopped and they were in a different part of the ship.

"These security precautions are pitiful" a voice said and everyone looked to see an Utrom trapped and secured in a chamber, "You will never hold me"

Mr. Mortu had came in and floated through Mikey, "We have finally recaptured you after a hundred year search, we're not about to lose the most ruthless criminal the universe has ever known"

The Utrom in the chamber laughed mockingly, "I will escape and you will all perish, that is my promise"

"Big talk, little slime ball" Raph said.

"Big talk, little slime ball" Mr. Mortu mirrored.

"Hey, I like the way this Mortu guy thinks" As Mr. Mortu left, Mikry walked up to the chamber.

"Yoo-hoo, hey there you ugly little Utrom" Mikey taunted as he made faces at the imprisoned Utrom.

"Michelangelo" Splinter said as he placed a hand on Mikey's shoulder, "You should know better than to tempt fate"

"But Master Splinter, you're always saying we should tell the truth, and the truth is Mr. Creepy here is pretty ugly"

"That is not the point"

Mikey continued to make faces at the Utrom and Splinter sighed. They were soon engulfed in the swirling lights again and they were back to where they were in the first place.

"Hey look" Donnie said and pointed at the planet, Earth, next to them, "They're passing close to earth"

"Mortu, the prisoner has escaped!" an Utrom informed as they floated in.

"Security, report!" Mortu called to.

_"The prisoner's attacking!"_ the Utrom on the other end informed, _"We're-AHHHH!"_ Alarms started to sound off as the lights flashed before it all went out.

"Emergency" one of the Utroms in the chamber said, "Power cut. Engines are off line"

"Our minds are going dark" the second Utrom said.

"Cell by cell" the third Utrom said.

"We are undone" the second Utrom said.

"We have control of the bridge" an Utrom at another panel said, "Security detail with me, to the engine room!"

"I hope nothing bad happens to these guys" Raph said gravely, "I'm kind of getting to like them"

"Whatever happens, it's all history now Raph" Leo said. They were surrounded by the swirling lights again before they were in the engine room.

"Careful" Mr. Mortu said as he and two of the Utroms floated into the room, "The prisoner is very crafty" They heard a spark and they looked down to see the prisoner holding broken wires and he laughed menacingly.

"You see, I always keep my promises" the prisoner said, "Goodbye, captain"

The prisoner connected the two wires and the whole ship started to quake violently. The ship's engine exploded and they were flying down at a fast rate towards earth. When it entered the atmosphere, the ship was being engulfed in fire.

"It's only a movie! It's only a movie! It's only a- we're all gonna die!" Mikey exclaimed.

The ship was making its way towards the ocean and crashed into it, it slide across the water towards an island. Mr. Mortu tried his best to keep the ship steady enough to make the crash landing less destructive than it needs to be. They then crashed into the shoreline of the island and a large part of the ship was destroyed and up in smoke. The turtles and Splinter stood up through the wreckage, unharmed.

"Dude" Mikey said as he looked at the wreckage, "I can't believe we're in one piece"

"Remember, this is all a memory, an illusion" Donnie informed.

"Tell that to my stomach" Mikey said, then he bend over and threw up.

Outside, the girls, April and Casey were still sitting in the van, waiting for something that involved the turtles or Viola as the tanks and troopers ran around in front of the TCRI building.

"Looks like they're gonna try something" Casey said.

"The guys still aren't answering their shellcells" April said, "They've been gone more than eight hours already"

"Alright, times up, I'm going out there!"

"To do what Casey? There's about a hundred national guards men between us and them; the best way we can help the guys is by sitting tight and being ready when they need us"

Casey slammed his fist into the control panel, "I know, but I don't have to like it"

"I was almost ready to follow Casey out" Phoebe said.

"I second that motion" Sara said.

Back inside the TCRI building, in the chamber system, the turtles and Splinter were standing at the shoreline with the Utroms.

"My friends and honored navigators" Mr. Mortu said, "We are all safe, but the ship is ruined" Mr. Mortu used a holographic device to show a map, "We are stranded on this primitive planet, millions of light years from our home world"

"There is not enough to salvage-"

"To repair the ship; we cannot-"

"Return to our home world?"

"No" Mr. Mortu said sadly.

"How are they gonna get home?" Mikey questioned.

"Captain" a yellow Utrom called out as it made its way to Mr. Mortu, "There's a structure beyond the next rise"

The Utroms, with the turtles and Splinter following, began to make their way over the rise that the yellow Utrom informed them of. When they made it there, they saw that they were in Feudal era Japan.

"This is... Japan!" Leo gasped.

"Eleventh century Feudal Japan from the look of it" Donnie informed.

"I've got one word: wow" Raph said.

"To actually be here, to see the birth place of Bushido, and ninjutsu" Leo said.

"Hey guys!" Mikey called out and they looked to see Mikey pretending to fight against a samurai training on the hill close to them, "Check me out, I'm in a samurai movie" Mikey pretended to dodge the samurai, though the samurai's sword would go right through him. "Your blade cannot touch the mighty Ronin, Michelangelo-san" Mikey said in an old movie fashion fighting voice, "I am the storming sea, I am the breaking wind"

"Michelangelo, show some respect" Splinter scolded.

"Sorry sensei" Mikey said and walked back to the others. As Mikey was making his way back, he came across a small picnic of some rice ball and tea. "Well I'm defiantly gonna respect his breakfast" Mikey said and tried to grab at it, but he went right through it.

"There is some sort of lesson here, but I'm enjoying this too much to think what it is" Splinter said as he and the others stood across from him as he continued to try and grab the food and laughed. It soon became night and they were gathered at the starship with the Utroms.

"In brief captain" the yellow Utrom said, "We conclude that the technology on this planet is too primitive to build a flying vehicle let alone an interstellar ship or even a hyper space transmit device. The technology simply does not exist"

"Not yet" Mr. Mortu said, "But we can wait"

"Ok, reality check" Mikey said, "How long do these guys live? They're gonna wait centuries until they can build themselves a way home?"

"I believe that is exactly what they do" Splinter said.

The morning soon came and the turtles and Splinter were with the Utroms as they explored around the area, studying the humans until they came up with an idea.

"From our technology that we been able to salvage from the crash, I give you" the two Utroms floating beside of a changing tent, lifted it, revealing an exoskeleton suit, "The exo-suit" The yellow Utrom floated to land in the stomach of the exo-suit, "With the proper covering, this will allow us to move among these humans undetected"

"So that's how they came to develop those robot bodies" Donnie said, "Amazing"

The yellow Utrom then tried to move in the exo-suit, making a few wobbly steps, "I believe a field test is in order"

When they dressed the exo-suit, the turtles and Splinter followed him into the open as he tested out the suit and he managed to walk around other humans without being detected. As the Utrom was making his way back to the others, he tripped on a wire and a large log came swinging down towards the Utrom. The Utrom was set flying back and crashed. A shadow then stood over the fallen Utrom and he looked up in shock.

"You!" the Utrom exclaimed as he looked at the Utrom prisoner.

"What a wonderful toy" the prisoner said, "I want to play"

"It's that evil Utrom" Raph said. The prisoner Utrom smacked the yellow Utrom out of the exo-suit and got in the exo-suit himself. "I was kind of hoping he didn't survive that crash" Raph said as he poised his sais. The prisoner Utrom made the suit stand up and walked towards the scurrying yellow Utrom, he grabbed the Utrom by its little tentacles.

"I know this happened a long time ago, but I'm getting mad right now!" Raph exclaimed as the others drew their weapons.

The prisoner Utrom then threw the yellow Utrom into the bushes and started to walk away. The turtles tried to attack him, but since they were only experiencing what was happening they went right threw him.

"Well that was useless" Donnie said.

They watched as the prisoner Utrom walked away. They then heard a shuffling noise and they looked down the other way of the path and saw someone walking towards them. The person was a girl by the look of it and she was carrying a staff with two buckets of water at each end. She was walking barefooted and her feet looked bruised and scratched up; her head was lowered so her hair covered her face. As she continued to walk, she tripped and fell to the ground, the buckets of water spilling on the ground. She was panting and was trying to reach for the bucket of water in front of her, but her hand fell back to the ground.

"Poor girl" Mikey said sadly, "She must be dying of thirst" They heard more shuffling and they looked to see a man in his thirties with a staff that was smaller than the one that the girl was carrying.

"What are you doing?" the man questioned angrily at the fallen girl, "You are not to rest until I tell you to rest slave!" The man then slammed his foot into the girls back and she cried out in pain as he repeated his action.

"That punk!" Raph exclaimed and tried to do something, but Leo placed a hand on him.

"Raph, we can't do anything, it's already happened" Leo said.

"How can someone treat someone like that?!"

"It's just the way that it was back then" Donnie said.

"Why are you still lying there?" the man questioned as he kicked the girl in the back once more. The girl tried to reach for the water bucket again, but the man kicked it away from her. "If you don't bring more water back by sundown, you'll lose another week worth of meals" the man threatened and walked away again.

"That man's real scum" Raph growled. They looked back at the girl as she tried to lift herself up.

"I wish there was something that we could do" Donnie said.

The girl managed to lift herself to sit on her knees, but her head was still down; she reached over and grabbed the other discarded water bucket and lifted it to her mouth. When she emptied out what was left in the bucket, she lowered the bucket and the turtles and Splinter gasped in shock: it was Viola, or really, Varuna.

"Viola!" Raph gasped.

"Remember Raph, we're-"

"Yeah, yeah, in a past memory, I get that, but she does look a lot like Viola" Raph interrupted Donnie.

"I can't believe that Varuna was a slave before she became a Guardian or a leader of the first kunoichi clan" Leo said in disbelief.

They looked back at Varuna and tears started to fill her eyes, she covered her face as she began to sob. She was brought out of her sadness when she heard a groan and she looked towards the bush where it came from. She looked at the bush for a couple of minutes before she started to crawl towards it and peeked through the leaves.

She suddenly screamed in fright and fell backwards. She trembled in fear as she panted, but when she heard the groaning again, she looked to be calming down and she moved towards the bush again. Varuna slowly moved the leaves out of the way and took a longer look at the yellow Utrom she was seeing. She looked down both paths of the road, making sure that it was empty before she reached in the bushes and pulled out the injured Utrom and cradled him.

"U-um" Varuna spoke nervously, confused by what she was holding, "A-are you ok?"

The yellow Utrom looked up at her and gasped, worried that he's been exposed to a human, "I-I... y-you"

Varuna gasped a little when she heard that he could talk; she used her free hand and untied the sash that was wrapped around her waist and she used it to wrap the Utrom. "I-it's ok" Varuna reassured, making sure that the Utrom was tucked comfortably in the sash, "I... I won't tell anyone" The Utrom looked at her for a second before he smiled and she smiled back down at him.

"Slave!" Varuna looked up to see that the man was coming back and she turned her back to him, holding the Utrom closer to her to hid him. "What is taking you so long?" the man questioned angrily, then he noticed that Varuna was hiding something, "What are you hiding? You dare keep something from me?! You are my slave, you don't own things! Show me what you have!"

Varuna trembled in fright, but she looked back down at the Utrom and he looked worried, "N-no!"

"What did you say to me?"

"No, I won't show you!"

"You dare talk back to me?!" The man stepped forward and kicked Varuna in the back, knocking her down; she made sure that she protected the Utrom from the impact. "Show me what you have!"

Varuna curled up in the fetal position, hiding the Utrom, "Never!"

The man growled and then started to use the stick that he was carrying and started to beat Varuna with it, but she didn't cry out in pain and kept quiet the whole time. Raph tried to do something again, but he was held back by Leo and Donnie again. After being beaten several times, the man stopped and waited, but Varuna didn't rise, so he reached forward and grabbed her by her hair, making her sit up.

Varuna cried out in pain by her hair being pulled; the man let her go, but tried to grab the sash that she was holding, but she refused to let him have it. She then raised one of her arms and smacked the man across the face; they were both shocked by the action, but the man's face twisted in rage and he lifted the staff in the air and smashed it into Varuna's face. She cried out loudly in pain as she fell back to the ground. She gasped for breath as she lifted her head and saw that the staff that she used to carry the water buckets was a few feet from her.

"Grab the staff Varuna!" Raph cheered, "Grab it!"

Varuna looked back as the man was walking towards her, then she looked back at the staff and reached for it. When the man was close enough, Varuna used what strength she could muster and swung as hard as she can into the man's face, knocking him down. Varuna looked shocked as she looked at the fallen man she took down by herself.

She stood and on shaky legs, staggering a bit before she regained her balance and was about to run away, but she stopped and looked back at the man. She walked back towards the man as he was sitting up, rubbing his bruised face and he looked up at Varuna, who was standing with her back straight and her shoulders back and a hard glare.

"My name" Varuna spoke a little nervously, but then she made voice sound stronger, "My name is Varuna! I am strong, I am willful, I am my own person, and you never owned me!" Varuna then spat in the man's face and walked away again.

"Now I see where Viola gets her flare" Raph said as he watched Varuna walk away with pride. They were then surrounded by the swirling light again. "Now what?" Raph questioned.

"Time's passing" Donnie said as he looked to see that they were back at the starship and then the Utroms appeared again with new and more advanced exo-suit, "A lot of time" They looked to see that the yellow Utrom had bandage wrapped around his head as he participated with building more of the exo-suits.

"Look, there's Varuna" Leo said, pointing across from them. They looked to see Varuna standing at the shoreline, practicing Tai chi, when Mr. Mortu, using one of the exo-suits, walked towards her.

"Varuna" Mr. Mortu called out, he was holding something behind his back.

"Good afternoon captain" Varuna greeted, bowing to him.

"I wish to give you something, something that all us Utrom wish to give you as appreciation for what you did to protect our existence" Mr. Mortu said, then showed what he was hiding behind him. Varuna gasped as she saw that it was a katana, the one that the turtles saw when they learned that Varuna was the first Guardian.

"Oh, this-this is so" Varuna stuttered, taking the sword in her hands and unsheathed it, revealing that the blade was engraved with flowers and vines, "T-thank you. Thank you so much" But the moment was ruined when ninjas jumped in and multiple explosions went off, surrounding everyone with fire and smoke. Then someone else jumped in: The Shredder.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Mikey exclaimed.

"Looks kind of like the Shredder" Leo said.

"Kind of too much like the Shredder" Raph said.

"But it can't be" Leo said.

"Ninjas!" the Shredder called out, "Attack! Destroy them all!" The ninjas then started to attack the Utrom and destroying most of them. The Utroms then started to jump on the Shredder, but he had knocked them all off.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Mortu questioned, "We mean you no harm!" The Shredder made his way towards Mr. Mortu, but then Varuna jumped in between them, her katana poised.

"I shall not let you harm them villain!" Varuna hissed. The Shredder struck and Varuna managed to dodge it and she started to fight back. Their fight was evenly matched as they barely landed a hit on each other.

"It can't be our Shredder" Donnie said as they continued to watch him and Varuna fight, "This is seven hundred years ago, it must be the Shredders ancestor or something, like Varuna"

Outside of the holographic chamber, Viola, Professor Honeycutt and Mr. Mortu were still standing around.

"I must say, this is the most intriguing device sir" Professor Honeycutt said, "We really must exchange Cosmo inferial equations sometimes"

"I wish I could be in there" Viola sighed, "I really want to know more about my grandmother, of her story"

"I can tell you firsthand about her history with us, about her glorious life that she lived with both us and for herself" Mr. Mortu offered. Viola looked up at him and smiled gratefully, then back at the chamber pods, or really, back at Raph, still confused about what she was feeling.

Back inside the holographic chamber, the Shredder and Varuna were still in a battle with each other. She then flipped back until she was standing close to the turtles.

"Mikey, get back" Leo ordered as he stepped closer to Varuna, "Don't get to close to them"

"Ah don't sweat it Leo" Mikey said, "Like you told me, this isn't real, remember?" Mikey stepped forwards to stand between Varuna and the Shredder and started to make faces at him. But as his brothers and Splinter watched, something had happened and they looked to see that their weapons were gone.

"What the?" Raph questioned.

"Our weapons!" Leo exclaimed, "They've disappeared!"

"What?!" the Shredder exclaimed when he saw a giant turtle appear in front of him. Varuna stared wide eyed at Mikey, then she looked back to see the others as well. The Shredder charged at Mikey and struck him down hard, sending him flying back and knocked him out.

With Professor Honeycutt and Viola, they noticed that something was happening with the chamber pods.

"What's happening?" Professor Honeycutt exclaimed.

"I don't understand!" Mr. Mortu said as he pressed some of the buttons to find out what was going on, "Something has gone horribly wrong!"

"Oh dear! Michelangelo's vital signs, they're going critical!"

"Mikey" Donnie called out as they all rushed to their fallen brother.

"Oh no!" Raph gasped.

"Michelangelo!" Splinter called out.

"Curious" the Shredder said as he looked at the five, "Capture those strange creatures, they may prove useful"

Splinter was looking to see how badly damaged Mikey was, "Michelangelo needs help, he is badly hurt!"

"Someone must have altered the program on us!" Donnie exclaimed as he stood back to back with his brothers as the Foot ninjas surrounded them.

"Whatever" Leo said, "We're in it up to our necks! This reality isn't virtual anymore!"


	25. Secret Origins Part 2

The turtles were tense as the Foot ninja surrounded them and Splinter still tried to call out to Mikey as he lay unconscious. Outside of the camber, Mr. Mortu continued to try and figure out what was wrong.

"Michelangelo is going critical" Professor Honeycutt said, "You must pull them out of the virtual reality system"

"I'm trying" Mr. Mortu said as he continued to press buttons, "The system is locked up, the controls aren't responding"

"Oh, how can this have gone so horribly wrong?" Viola was standing in front of Raph's pod chamber, a worry look on her face as she felt a tight ache in her chest.

Back inside the virtually reality system, Varuna stared at the five creatures with confusion and worry, wondering who they were and how they'd just popped up out of nowhere, questioning whether to jump in to help them.

"Steady guys, this is about to get ugly" Leo said as he kept his stance.

"This shouldn't be happening" Donnie said gravely, "This is supposed to be virtual reality" one of the ninjas charged at Donnie and he moved out of the way while another one came out from behind him and he kicked at them, "They're not supposed to be able to see us, let alone attack us!"

When one of the ninjas charged at Raph with his sword, he grabbed his hand and jumped behind him, using him as a puppet shield as two other ninjas began to attack him. He managed to disarm them and then the man that he was holding, tossing him to the other two before kicking them all down. Some of the ninjas threw ninja stars at Donnie and he dodged them all, he smirked in victory, but then the bamboos behind him feel onto his head.

"Leonardo" Splinter called out to him, "We must become shadows"

Leo kicked down two of the ninjas near him, "Guys, time to disappear! Raph, get Mikey and head for the bamboo!" Raph rushed over to Mikey and placed him over his shoulders and then jumped into the bamboos. "Don, you're with me"

"I shall stand beside you" Leo and Donnie looked over to see Varuna rush to stand beside of the two, her sword poised, "I'm not so sure what you creatures are or how you appeared like that, but if that mystery man is after you creatures, then he'll have to get through me"

Leo and Donnie looked at each other and then back at Varuna with a grateful smile. As the three fought against the Foot ninjas, Splinter chopped some of the bamboo and kicked it to Leo and Donnie. They jumped up and caught them, using them like they would their real weapons. They fought against the ninjas and managed to knock them down, but then more of them appeared from out of the bamboo, but then they stepped back as the Shredder stepped out as well.

"Uh oh" Leo gasped, "Here's comes the Shredders great-great grandpappy"

"Shredder huh?" Varuna said as she glared at the man, "I hate to admit it, but it's a fitting name; but he's not going to like it when I use the term on him" Two of the Foot ninjas stood on either side of the Shredder and fire arrow at Leo, but he stopped them with the bamboo.

"These guys may not be real" Donnie said, then blocked the arrows coming at him, "But they mean business"

"Turtles" Varuna called out as stepped out in front of them, then held her arm out to reveal three small balls between her fingers, "Get out of here, get to the others, I'll deal with the Shredder"

Varuna raised her hand and threw the small balls on the ground, causing a smoke bomb to spread through the field. When the field cleared, Varuna, Leo and Donnie were gone and the Foot ninjas began to chop down the bamboo to search for them.

"Send some men to watch the row through the forest, they won't get far" Shredder ordered, "You others, come with me, I have important business in the village"

Unaware, Leo and Donnie were up in the trees, watching as the ninjas split up into groups to search for them. They looked over across from them and saw Varuna also in the trees, she looked at them and gave a nod before she jumped to a different trees, disappearing in the forest.

"Don, go find the others, make sure they're ok" Leo ordered, "I'm gonna follow Mr. Personality for a bit, I'll catch up" Leo jumped out of the trees and began to follow the Shredder.

Outside of the reality camber, Mr. Mortu continued to try and figure out what was wrong with the system.

"Why don't we just shut the system down?" Professor Honeycutt asked.

"Normally, it would be that simple" Mr. Mortu said, "But the systems be tampered with, the slightest disruption or energy spike could destroy them; we must disconnect their minds from the memory pods carefully, but it will take time, let us hope they can survive that long"

"Hey, these are the boys we're talking about" Viola said with a small worried, but reassuring smile, placing her hand on Raph's camber pod, "We survived on another planet and fought against Triceratons and the Federation, they've fought against monsters in an underground city that Phoebe told me about, they've probably fought battles that I don't even know about yet, and they'll survive this, I just know it"

Back inside the memory pods, night had fallen and Leo was still following the Shredder to a small blacksmith stand and watched as three of the men working there rushed over to kneel in front of Shredder, one of the men placing a wrapped red cloth on the ground.

"Swordsmen" the Shredder said as he approached the three, "Is it finished?"

"Hai, tono-sama" the man in the middle said as he stood up with the wrapped cloth in his hands and walked over to kneel down in front of Shredder with it, "I made the blade just as you requested" he then uncovered the cloth to reveal a blade, "The metal is amazing, I have never seen its like before"

"Nor will you ever again" the Shredder said as he grabbed the blade, then pulled out something from behind him, "Let us just say that the metal fell from the heavens"

Shredder connected the handle to the blade, revealing it to be the Sword of Tengu. The sword began to spark and light up, frightening the blacksmith workers, he aimed the sword at the workers and shot it out at one of them, knocking him into the others and through the blacksmiths stand, destroying it.

"The sword is perfect!" Shredder boasted, "With it, my enemies will not be able to hide, I will find them and destroy them"

The Shredder laughed menacingly as Leo began to worry gravely about what was to come to him and his family if they were to be founded. Leo soon left and began to jump through the trees, searching for his family; when he found them, he jumped down to them.

"How's Mikey?" Leo asked.

Splinter sighed, "We must be careful, Michelangelo is not well, and I fear that in this dream world, if we believe we'd have died, then we will truly die"

"Being careful won't be easy, that guy that looks like the Shredder, he just invented the Sword of Tengu"

Splinter looked completely shocked, "This is not good"

From the tree line, Varuna was looking down at the five, confused and conflicted about these creatures that had came up out of nowhere.

Outside of the Mr. Mortu and Professor Honeycutt were under the control panel, figuring out how to free the turtles and Splinter from the chamber, but then a screen had appeared in front of them, show three people on the screen.

"Motru" one of them said, "We-"

"Are under-"

"Attack"

"This location is no longer liable, we are-"

"Surrounded, we have no choice, we must-"

"Now use the transmat and-"

"Return home"

"Our preliminary defense are holding" Mr. Mortu said, "We must save the turtles and their master, they are under our care"

"Are they're lives-"

"More important-"

"Than the lives of the Utroms?"

"All life is precious Counselors"

"True"

"But remember Mortu"

"You have a great responsibility to your fellow Utroms"

"The burden is heavy"

"But you must bear it"

"I... I understand Councelor" the screen soon disappeared.

"You can't abandon my friends" Professor Honeycutt pleaded.

"Don't worry Professor, we will find a way to save them, and ourselves"

Back inside the memory pods, the turtles continued to stand around Mikey and Splinter.

Mikey groaned and stirred a bit, "Master Splinter, is it... time to eat?" The second that Mikey had fallen unconscious again, they heard a girls scream.

"You guys hear that?" Donnie questioned.

"A fight in the forest" Splinter said.

"Over the hill, to the north" Leo said.

"Go, investigate, I will stay and look after your brother"

The three bowed to him and soon rushed off to where the fight was happening. When they arrived, they saw that the Foot ninjas were attacking an elderly man with a little boy hiding behind him and a young girl with a weapon. The ninjas began to attack them and the girl managed to defend against them.

"You know, I'm really starting to hate these old school Foot ninjas as much as I hate the modern day versions" Raph said as they watched the young girl defend against the Foot. The girl was blocking one of the ninjas and managed to knock him down.

"She's good" Donnie said, "I like her"

"I don't think your girlfriend would appreciate hearing that" Raph teased.

"What do you say we lend a hand?" Leo said.

The three soon rushed towards the fight, but they were barely half way there when they saw something moving in the trees from above the fight. Three other ninjas jumped out of the trees with weapons in hand and when they landed, they knocked down the Foot ninjas. The turtles gasped as they watched the mysterious ninjas fight against the Foot.

"All sorts of bozos are coming to this party" Raph said.

"A few too many, look!" Leo called out and pointed down the road to show more Foot ninjas coming their way.

One of the Foot ninjas managed to knock down one of the mysterious ninjas and the other two were outnumbered. The turtles soon jumped into the fight and were knocking down the Foot. While the girl was defending herself against one of the Foot, another was standing behind her and threw the metal end of the kusari-gama at the girl and she gasped as it came right at her. Leo saw this and was about to jump in, but then one of the other mysterious ninjas jumped in and used their sword to grab the chain before it hit her.

Leo gasped as he got a closer look at who the mysterious ninja was, "Varuna?!"

Varuna pulled at the chain and threw the Foot onto the ground and she continued to help protect the young girl while the turtles knocked the other Foot ninjas down. When Raph knocked down another ninja, they all soon retreated and the turtles gave each other high fives.

"Turtles kick serious ninja butt, even in ancient Japan" Donnie cheered.

"Stay away evil goblins!" the old man yelled, but then looked at the other three mysterious ninjas, "Save us! Save us from the green kappa! Goblins! Goblins!"

"Somehow, I don't think we're gonna get the thank you we deserve" Leo said gravely as the two of the mysterious ninjas approached the turtles.

As the mysterious ninjas continued to approach the turtles, the old man, little boy and young girl were making their escape. Before they left, Varuna approached the young girl and handed her a rose, when she took it, Varuna gave a single nod before rushing to the others and placed herself between the turtles and the other two.

"Wait a minute!" Varuna called out, stretching her arms out.

"Step aside Varuna" the man with the black hair said.

"Look, we were only trying to help" Leo said.

"We don't wanna fight you" Donnie said.

"Although I like fighting" Raph said as he punched his fist into his hand, "But what I don't like is being trapped in this stupid Urtom video game" the two mysterious ninjas and Varuna stepped back when Raph said that.

"The Utrom?" the man with the brown hair said.

"How do these strange kappa know of the Utrom?" the man with the blue hair questioned.

"That's it!" Leo gasped in realization, "That's where I've seen that medallion before, on the Guardians, and plus Varuna was also a Guardian, so we should have figured that out in the moment she appeared, we forgot that she's the first incarnation of the Guardians. You work for the Utrom right? Well look, we're on the same side"

"We need to talk to the Urtom, we're stuck in this place like them, and maybe they can help us" Donnie said, "Can you take us to them?" the Guardians didn't say anything.

"Can you at least let them know we need to see them?" Leo asked. The two Guardians continued to stay quiet, not sure of what to do, but then Raph looked at Varuna as she was looking down at the ground, looking conflicted.

"Varuna" Raph called out as he stepped forward, "You're the first of any of them, don't you over rule them in some way?" When Raph had placed his hands on her shoulders, the man with the brown hair gripped at his hand and raised his sword.

"Don't you touch her!" he shouted as he brought his sword down.

"Kenta!" Varuna shouted as she grabbed his hand and pushed Raph back and she placed her hands on his chest to calm him down, "That's enough, they've done nothing to us to deserve to be struck"

Kenta calmed down and lowered his hand and remained quiet. Varuna turned around and pulled her mask down and walked to stand in front of Raph, looking him in the eyes. She saw that he looked both angry and worried and she thought it was about the other turtle that was knocked down. She placed her mask back on and walked away from them, the two other Guardians stepping aside to let her through.

"I will tell them of your situation" Varuna said and the Guardians put their swords away as they began to walk away.

"Wait!" Donnie called out, "But how will we find you?"

"If our masters agree to an audience, they will find you" the man with the black hair said as they began to walk away again.

As they watched them walk away, Raph got angry when he saw the man that about struck him, Kenta, wrap his arm around Varuna and held her close to him; he was about to charge at him, but Leo and Donnie held him back.

"Raph" Donnie groaned and Raph face palmed himself when he remembered again.

"I know, but... she just looks so much like her, I can't help but think about her every time I see her"

"Sometimes we think about that too, but right now, we have more important things to worry about" Leo said.

Outside of the memory camber, the whole place shook violently and it knocked Mr. Mortu, Professor Honeycutt and Viola down to the ground.

"Oh dear!" Professor Honeycutt gasped, "That can't be good"

"What's going on out there?" Viola questioned as she stood up.

"When you and your friends traveled through the transmat, you created a stir with the army and they're trying to get in to see what is happing inside" Mr. Mortu explained. A screen came up and it showed the Counselors again.

"Mortu, there has been-"

"A breach-"

"And internal security control is not responding"

"We must leave at once"

"I understand Counsel" Mr. Mortu said.

"Wait!" Viola called out, but the screen disappeared.

"Deploy the security robots" Mr. Mortu said to the other Utrom that was standing at the control panel.

"Yes sir" the Utrom said.

Mr. Mortu soon pulled off the rest of his suit, "Instruct the transmat room for immediate evacuation"

"But you must free my friends" Professor Honeycutt pleaded.

"Of course Professor Honeycutt, we will not abandon them, I promise; if only they can activate the pods internal fail safe, but that's too much to hope for"

"But they're in the past right?" Viola asked, "They'll meet my grandmother, if what you told me was true, that she can sense whether a person is good or bad, then I know she'll help them get out of this"

Mr. Mortu looked at her and smiled, "I'm sure you're right, but let's hope they hurry before we have to evacuate"

Back inside the memory chamber, the turtles were rushing quickly back to Mikey and Splinter and when they arrived, they were relieved to see that Mikey was fully awake, but surprised to see that there was a sushi buffet there.

"Welcome back bros!" Mikey greeted happily as he ate some more sushi, "Anyone for sushi?"

The turtles cheered for Mikey being alright as they walked to sit around the buffet and Raph placed Mikey in a headlock as he gave him a noogy.

"Aww Mikey, you bum, I'm glad you're ok" Raph said and then sat down beside of him.

"Mikey, you know that not a molecule of that food is real" Donnie pointed out, "It's all a part of this illusion"

"Yeah, I know" Mikey said, but continued to eat the sushi, "But right now, it's real enough for me"

"That is it" Splinter said and everyone turned their attention to him, "The answer, it is-"

Before Splinter could finish that sentence, they heard a rustle and they looked to see the Guardians jumping out and land in front of the five.

"Hey Varuna, thanks again for the sushi" Mikey said happily.

"Wait, when did she come by?" Raph asked.

"Moments after you left" Splinter answered.

"How could you have come here to deliver sushi and then jump into that fight with the Foot?" Raph questioned.

"She's a ninja Raph" Leo said.

The Guardians stood to the side and the turtles looked to see someone come out and they saw that it was one of the Utroms in disguise.

"Greetings" the Utroms said and removed his robe to reveal himself, "I am Mortu" the five bowed to him.

"Mr. Mortu" Leo spoke first, "You're just the... man we need to see" Mr. Mortu looked a bit confused when he said that. They all sat around and Leo began to explain of what was going on.

"It was at that point, that the pods story became real" Leo finished, "So you see Mr. Mortu, we're trapped in this virtual reality and we can't get out"

"I do see" Mr. Mortu said, "It is an interesting phenomenon, you have much knowledge of our ways, but your knowledge of the Shredder is incomplete; you should know, the Shredder is one of-!" before Mr. Mortu could finished his sentence, they heard laughter and Foot ninjas jumped out from the trees and surrounded them and the Shredder came out from the forest.

"How fortuatice that I should find you here Mortu" Shredder said, "Now, I can display the true powers of the Sword of Tengu, for your amusement and your demise!"

The sword began to light up and spark and they prepared themselves for the attack, but when the Shredder struck the ground, the hit was too fast and it struck Mr. Mortu's robotic body, electrocuting him. He fell out of the robots body and the turtles jumped out of the way just as it exploded. The two Guardians jumped to stand with Mr. Mortu to protect him as the Shredder laughed and fired the weapon again, knocking them into the trees.

Varuna rushed to Mr. Mortu and picked him up, but before she could run to help the other Guardians, she groaned in pain and fell to the ground, curling up in the fetal position. Shredder struck the sword again at Donnie, Leo and Splinter as they were charging at him and knocked them back and he struck again to knock Splinter back again.

When Raph tried to attack him, the Shredder fired the sword again, shocking and knocking him down to the ground. Leo tried to help him, but the Shredder fired at him, knocking him back towards Donnie and Mikey and then fired again at all three of them. Shredder then made his way towards Mr. Mortu and laughed menacingly.

Leo rushed to his fallen sensei, "Master Splinter! Are you alright?"

Splinter stirred and sat up, "Leonardo, listen, there is little time, this virtual reality is an illusion in an illusion, an illusion of the mind; control your mind, and you will control the illusion"

Leo thought about it, "I will try, sensei"

Shredder raised the sword as Varuna pushed her aching body up on one of her arms to glare up at him, "Goodbye, Mortu" Leo tried his hardest to concentrate, to save Mr. Mortu and Varuna; the Sword of Tengu disappeared from the Shredders hands, confusing him and the Foot. "What?" Shredder questioned as he looked around, "Where is the Sword of Tengu?"

The sword had soon reappeared in Leo's hand, "It's right here!"

"Whoa" Mikey gasped while Donnie looked confused, "How'd Leo do that?"

"You want it back?!"

Shredder actually looked frightened for once; Leo raised the sword and struck hard with all his might, causing a huge explosion and the Shredder and the Foot to fly far off. Leo struck at the Shredder again and again until he was sent flying through the bamboo and caused him to fall off a cliff and into the rocks below. Leo turned to the other Foot ninjas and they retreated. Once they were gone, Leo concentrated again and the sword disappeared.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Neo, I-I mean, Leo" Donnie called out jokingly.

"Way to go bro" Mikey cheered.

"Varuna!"

The turtles turned to see the Guardians rushing to Varuna as she continued to lay on the ground, groaning in pain and they rushed over to her as well. Kenta sat down and pulled Varuna up and leaned her against him, pulling her mask away as she took a few deep breaths and the other Guardian took Mr. Mortu into his hands.

"What's wrong?" Raph asked.

"I... I don't know, I just... my stomach just started to hurt real badly" Varuna gasped, trying to breathe through the pain.

Splinter kneeled down to her and placed his hand on her forehead for a second before he placed his other hand on her stomach. After a minute, he pulled his hand away and smiled, "I would like to be the first to congratulate you, you are with child"

"What?!" Varuna and Raph yelled in surprise. Varuna looked at Raph questioningly and he face palmed himself when he forgot, yet again, that this wasn't Viola.

Varuna ignored him and looked down at her stomach, placing her hand on it, "A... a child?"

A larger hand was placed on top of hers and she looked up at Kenta as he removed his mask and smiled down at her, "Our child"

Varuna's eyes started to fill up with tears and she laughed happily as nestled up closer to him.

"Your actions demonstrate the varsity of what you say" Mr. Mortu said to the turtles and Splinter as all of them stood up and the Guardian holding Mr. Mortu held out something in his hands to the turtles, "Take this, it should help you return safely to where you belong"

"But, if we're stuck in a video game, how can you give us anything to affect the real world?" Mikey asked, "I-we-you, urg, my brain hurts"

"If this world is a virtual projection created from our technology, then we Utroms have encoded an internal fail safe that can be activated by using the virtual reset device you now poses" Mr. Mortu explained.

"Here we go" Leo said as he was about to press a button.

"Wait a minute!" Varuna called out as she stepped out of Kenta's arms and walked to stand in front of Raph, "What is wrong with you?"

"What?" Raph questioned.

"Whenever I run into you, you have this look of surprise, on all of your brothers and sensei's faces, and when I got a closer look into your eyes, I saw this longing and you were shocked when I found out I was with child; what is the reason for these emotions you have?"

Raph scratched the back of his head as his face turned red with embarrassment.

"You know how we're not from this place? That we're from the future?" Raph said and she nodded, "Well, we're friends with your granddaughter"

"My granddaughter?" Varuna asked confusingly, placing her hand on her stomach.

"Yeah, she looks exactly like you" Mikey said.

"And we mean _exactly_ like you" Donnie said, "Except her hairs shorter and covering half of her face"

"And we get just a little surprised ever time we see you, because you just look so much like her" Leo said.

"I see" Varuna said, but then looked back at Raph again, "But that doesn't explain why you look in longing when you look at me"

"It's because he's got a mega crush on your granddaughter" Mikey told as he wrapped his arm around Raph's shoulder and Raph pushed him away roughly.

Varuna looked at him for a second, and seeing him blushing and looking embarrassed, she began to laugh a little. "I see" Varuna said as soon as her laughter died down, "You are in love with my granddaughter"

"W-well I, you see, i-it's nothing like-uh, well... yes" Varuna laughed again and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Well, the way you are acting just of thinking of her, I approve and I wish you luck" Raph looked at her a bit confusingly, "By the way you are acting, you care deeply for her, you act the same way as Kenta when he told me that he loved me" Kenta had blushed deeply, but wasn't that embarrassed about it, "And as I seen your fighting skills, I trust that you will do your best to keep her safe and I trust that you will keep her happy as well"

"O-oh, uh, t-thank you" Raph said and bowed to her.

"Well, we better get going now" Leo said.

"Goodbye and thank you" Splinter said as he waved and then bowed to them.

"See you in a few hundred years" Raph said as he gave a thumbs up.

Leo soon pressed the small box and it began to light up brightly, blinding the Guardians. "Wait!" Leo called out, "What was it you were trying to say about the Shredder before?"

"The Shredder is-"

They didn't have enough time to hear him as they were engulfed in a bright light and when they opened their eyes, they saw that they were back in the real world again.

"They've done it!" Mr. Mortu exclaimed, "They activated the internal fail safe! But how?" The turtles sighed as they stepped out of the pods.

"Well, you helped us" Leo said, "Not you you, but you, it's kind of a long story"

"Thank goodness your alright" Viola said and hugged Raph tightly, he was a bit surprised at first, but hugged her back as well, glad to be seeing the real her, rather than just her twin ancestor.

"Well I don't care how you got out" Professor Honeycutt said as he helped Splinter out of the pod, "What matters is your safe and sound"

"Still, I can't understand how the oracle pods malfunction" Mr. Mortu pondered.

"Oh, but I do" a familiar, chilling voice called out.

Everyone turned to see the Shredder standing at the doorway with Hun and the Foot Elite with him and everyone was completely shocked at seeing him again, alive.

"No, it can't be!" Leo gasped in confusion, "I finished you off myself, you can't be alive!"

"You merely separated my head from my body" Shredder laughed menacingly, "A courtesy I will gladly extend to you all, for none of you are leaving here alive; and to add to this little reunion, there is someone that I'm sure you'll be glad to see again" Shredder said as he looked at Viola, who was glaring deathly at him, her sword gripped tightly in her hands.

"What are you talking about?" Viola questioned.

Shredder laughed as he stepped to the side and everyone gasped in utter shock as a person stepped into the room, and not just someone, another Viola lookalike.

"V-Vanessa!" Viola gasped as she was face to face with her presumed dead twin sister again, but this time, she looked different, she looked angry and vengeful.


	26. Secret Origins Part 3

Viola stared in shock at her twin sister Vanessa, who she though died in a fire six years ago, but was standing right across from her, alive and looking vengeful.

"V-Vanessa?" Viola called out, her voice squeaking a little as she tried her best not to cry.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow, but kept her glare, "How does she know who I am Master Shredder?"

"Master Shredder?" Raph questioned.

"As a clone, she knows everything, which is why you must destroy her" Shredder ordered.

"Clone?!" Viola shouted in rage this time, "What did you do to my sister?!"

"Silence!" Vanessa shouted back at her, unsheathing her sword and gripped the hilt tightly between her hands, "You are a creation of Master Shredders greatest enemy, a clone made from my stolen DNA, and those who stand against him shall be destroyed by my hand, and I'll start with you, clone!" Vanessa charged, jumping up in the air and brought her sword down to Viola, but she blocked it with her sword and they pushed against each other.

"What is the matter with you Vanessa?" Viola questioned, "I'm not a clone from your 'stolen DNA', I'm your twin sister; what has the Shredder done to you!"

"Enough talk!" Vanessa struck again with her sword and Viola blocked again.

"Attack!" Shredder ordered to the others, "Destroy them all!" Baxter Stockman, who was nothing but a head in a robotic spider body, laughed menacingly and Professor Honeycutt gasped in shock and fright.

"Oh dear, and I thought I was stuck with an unpleasant robot body" Baxter fired a laser from the spiders body and knocked Professor Honeycutt into the pods.

"My sons, attack!" Splinter ordered.

The turtles and Splinter charged into the battle, fighting against the Foot ninjas and the Foot Elite were rushing towards Mr. Mortu before more of the Guardians came in.

"Protect Mr. Mortu!" one of the Guardians said as they all rushed to aid him with their glowing swords.

They jumped to stand between the Foot Elite and Mr. Mortu and fought against each other. Splinter was faced against Hun, but he managed to knock him across the room with apparent ease. The Shredder had soon jumped in to stand in front of Mr. Mortu.

"Mortu" Shredder called out, "I have anticipated this moment for nearly 10 centuries!"

"I'm surprise that with your genius, it took you a thousand years to find us!" Mr. Mortu taunted.

Mr. Mortu and Shredder soon engaged in battle and Mr. Mortu was holding his own in the fight with surprising ease than the last time they saw him fight against the Shredder.

"If those guys have been enemies for that long!" Leo called out as he blocked and kicked another Foot soldier down, "Then that means..."

"This is the same Shredder from a thousand years ago!" Splinter finished.

When Mr. Mortu stepped back from another attack, but was then captured by Hun. But before the Shredder could make a final blow, the other Utroms came in and fired lasers at them, making Hun release Mr. Mortu. The Utroms continued to fire at Shredder, but then he jumped up, grabbed two of the Utroms and threw them down and knocked down the others.

One of the Foot Elite was about to strike one of the Utroms, but then Leo jumped in and grabbed him, moving out of the way before he got hit and then kicked the man down. Another Foot Elite charged at Leo and tried to attack the Utrom he was holding, but moved him out of the way before he could get a hit.

"Sorry about this" Leo said and reeled the Utrom back, "Donnie, go long!" Leo threw the Utrom across the room and Donnie managed to catch him and then placed him back on the small hovercraft.

"At last" Baxter said as he approached Raph and Mikey, "It's time I finally have my revenge on you annoying mutations"

"Stockman?" Raph questioned and laughed as he and Mikey put their weapons away, "I almost didn't recognize you; new hair cut?"

Baxter glared at them and then fired the lasers from his robotic spider body and shot the two turtles across the room. He laughed as he continued to fire at the two turtles. Mr. Mortu continued to fight the Shredder, but then Shredder kicked him down and caused Mr. Mortu to fall out of his robot body.

"Mr. Mortu!" Viola shouted as she looked over at him.

"Wrong move!" Vanessa said and then kicked Viola across the room.

Shredder looked over at Baxter, "Stockman, hold, you have more important business!"

"Never!" Baxter objected, "My revenge comes first!" Baxter fired at the turtles again.

"I said hold!" Shredders eyes glowed a darker red and Stockman's body started to spark red and he was electrocuted, "Initiate phase three, now!"

"Yes master" Baxter said and scurried away, "The device will soon be under your control"

Mr. Mortu pushed himself up straight, "The device!" Donnie picked Mr. Mortu up and placed him back in his robot body, "The transmat! We must stop that cyborg before-" Before they could rush to catch up with Baxter, Hun and two of the Foot Elite blocked the exit.

Shredder laughed, "You will go nowhere!"

Leo ambushed him and kicked the Shredder into an organic pod, causing him to get stuck. Mr. Mortu rushed over to the control panel and started to press some buttons, causing the line connecting to the organic pod to enclose and trap Shredder.

Hun and an Elite rushed over to the pod and tried to tear it open to get him out while the others continued to fight against the others. Mr. Mortu, the Guardians and a few of the other Urtoms ran out of the room to get to the transmat before Baxter could do anything to it.

Shredder had soon burst out of the pod, "After the Utrom, now!"

Before Shredder, Hun and the Elite could exit the room, the turtles and Splinter blocked the way. Vanessa had then landed roughly in front of the Shredder and Viola jumped in to stand with the turtles and Splinter.

"I'm sorry Vanessa" Viola apologized.

Vanessa stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth, "I know you wish to destroy your enemies by your hand Master Shredder, but let me have the honor to finish off my clone"

"You may have the honor, but not at this moment" Shredder said.

"You have to go through us first" Raph said and he held his sais high.

"You're not worth wasting my time" Shredder said and then started to press some buttons on the control panel.

Some kind of substance came out and blocked the exit and then some weird white liquid came pouring out from the walls and pods. Some weird tunnel came out from the wall and Shredder, Hun, the Elites and Vanessa ran into it and the tunnel disappeared back into the wall.

Everyone rushed to the walls and started to hit it, trying to figure a way out, but the walls didn't budge and Donnie was at the control panel, trying to figure out how to find a way out as the room was filling up with the white liquid.

"It's no good, I can't work these controls!" Donnie exclaimed.

Leo sliced at the wall, but then it closed up again, "I keep slicing at the wall, but it just heals itself, it's like the rooms alive"

"We have to get out! We just have to!" Viola shouted as she repeatedly sliced the wall and it closed up every time.

"Viola!" Raph called out, grabbing her hand before she struck at the wall again and faced her towards him, "Well find a way out, I promise" Viola looked at him as she panted, frustrated and worried about her sister.

"Wait" Donnie called out as he walked to stand with the others, "That's it, this is a techno organic chamber, we need to think a little less techno and a little more organic" Donnie used his staff and hit the wall and it jiggled, "See, the walls have techno organic nerve endings, they can feel; just follow my rhythm" Donnie said and started to hit the wall and the others soon followed, "If we can agitate the nerve endings just so..."

As they continued to hit the walls, the room was starting to make a weird noise and they had soon stopped when the room started to shake violently. "She's gonna blow!" Donnie shouted. The white liquid shot up, along with the turtles, Splinter and Viola and they exploded out through the ceiling and into a hallway, landing roughly on the ground.

"Ok, that was nasty" Mikey said as he stood up.

"Urg, it's like we popped a zit!" Viola groaned in disgust, wiping the white liquid off of her face.

Outside the building, April, Casey and the girls were still sitting around, watching the army destroy the front doors of the building and made their way inside. But there were some blasting sounds and some men came back out with their unconscious team on their shoulders.

"We can't sit around anymore, we need to know what's going on in there" April said as she was changing in the back while Casey sat in the front, covering his eyes as she changed, "The authorities won't talk to us, but they might talk to a TV news reporter" When April finished changing, she stepped out to reveal herself wearing a yellow jumpsuit, holding a microphone in her hand. "How do I look?" April asked and Casey turned to look at her.

"Uh, great" Casey said, "If you're a moving toxic waste"

April then punched Casey in the shoulder and the girls laughed, "You're no help"

"I think you look good in a jumpsuit April" Winter said.

"Thanks" April said, then she picked up a homemade news camera and held it out to Casey, "Can you at least be my cameraman?"

"Do I have a choice?" Casey questioned.

"I don't think the authorities will believe that a fourteen year old girl got a job as a cameraman" Phoebe said.

Back inside the building, the Guardians and the Utroms were standing guard of the transmat.

"Guardians, be ready for anything" Mr. Mortu ordered.

Suddenly, two devices were tossed in front of them and they started to spark, they jumped out of the way in time as they exploded and the Shredder and Vanessa stepped out from the smoke. The Utroms began to fire at him, but the lasers just bounced off of his suit and they weren't even attacking Vanessa because they saw that she looked like Viola.

"Stay back!" Mr. Mortu exclaimed at him, "I will not let you destroy the transmat!" Mr. Mortu charged forward to attack Shredder, but then he stuck him, knocking him onto the transmat and it began to glow.

"I do not intend to destroy it Mortu" Shredder said as he walked up the stairs, "I will use it to send you to your doom; perhaps I'll place you in the extreme heat of a supernova, or the cold endless vacuum of space" Baxter then shocked Professor Honeycutt, knocking him onto the transmat as well. "And you're just the beginning, after I dispose of you, I will use this device to concur the whole world of the Utroms and I'll destroy every last one of your kind Mortu!"

"Not if we got anything to say about it!"

Shredder turned around and saw that the turtles, Splinter and Viola were standing at the entrance of the door way, their weapons out and ready to fight. "Remember us" Raph said as he twirled his sais around.

"I grow tire of you creatures and your constant interference!" Shredder exclaimed, "Elite ninjas, attack!" the Elite sharged forward at the turtles, "Stockman, power up the transmat, finish Mortu and his friends!"

"Yes master" Baxter said and walked away.

"Shredder!" Viola shouted as she charged as him, jumping up in the air and brought her sword down. But Vanessa jumped in between them and blocked the attack and they began to fight against each other again.

"We have to stop Stockman!" Leo called out as he fought against an Elite.

"And here I am fresh out of bug spray!" Mikey exclaimed as he fought against an Elite as well.

"Why don't we just get Shredder to ask him to stop!" Raph shouted as he blocked the Elite's ax, "Stockman seems to listen to him"

"That's it!" Donnie exclaimed as he blocked the Elite's attack, "Stockman's control must be voice activated!" Donnie evaded the Elite and jumped to crouch down near Professor Honeycutt, "Psst, Professor Honeycutt, can your audio processor replicate any sound?"

"Of course" Professor Honeycutt answered.

"We need your best impersonation of the Shredder now"

Professor Honeycutt started to beep a bit before he talked liked Shredder, "Stockman, step away from the controls" Stockman stopped what he was doing and stepped away and the Shredder saw this.

"Stockman, don't listen to him, you obey only me!" Shredder said.

"Don't listen to him, override all voice command protocols" Professor Honeycutt said.

Baxter started to spark before he shook his head, "I'm-I'm free! I obey no one now!" Baxter jumped on the Shredder and electrocuted him. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they watch Shredder scream as he fell against the transmat. Baxter soon stopped electrocuting him and Shredder fell to the ground.

"I'm free, free of him at last!" Baxter laughed as he walked away from Shredder.

"Master Shredder!" Vanessa exclaimed and rushed over to him and soon Hun and the Elite rushed alongside her.

"Do you think the Shredder is?" Leo started.

Hun picked up the Shredders body, "We'll be back freaks"

Something slipped out of the Shredders hand as they began to leave and bounced near the turtles. The thing hand claws that sunk into the floor and it began to countdown and weird red lasers started to seep through the floors and spread throughout the room. Donnie and Mikey walked over to it and Donnie bent down to try and pick it up.

"Do not touch it!" Mr. Mortu exclaimed as he ran over to them, "It's an Utrom implosion device, the techno organic virus it contains will destroy you; already it has thoroughly infected the system, the entire building will implode in less than ten minutes!" Everyone gasped in shock and horror.

"Can't you stop it!" Donnie questioned.

"No" Mr. Mortu said gravely, "Unfortunately, the virus was comprehensive, it spread too quickly"

"So Shredder found a way to stick it to us" Raph said, "Even in defeat" A screen had appeared in front of Mr. Mortu and it showed the Councilors again.

"The human troops-"

"Are making their way-"

"Deeper into the building"

"We have to get them out before the place implodes" Leo said.

"The lower floors are completely sealed off, there's no way to contact them" Mr. Mortu said.

"There must be someone on the outside we can contact!" Mikey and Raph seemed to think the same thing and looked at each other.

Outside, April and Casey made their way through the crowd towards the general.

"General!" April called out, "April O'Neil, channel nine news" the number on her suit slipped and turned upside down, "Uh, channel six news; what can you tell us about the situation inside?"

"Reporters, I said keep them back behind the barricade!" the general ordered and one of the troops pushed them back.

"Sir, the people have a right to know!" April called out, "General!"

_"April, Casey"_ a voice called out on their ear phones, _"It's me, Leo"_

"Hello?" April and Casey said as they listened closer.

"Leo?" April called out, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm hearing your voice!"

"Me neither" Casey said, "When did you get three way calling?" April elbowed Casey in the chest, "Ow! What?"

"Hello! Alive!"

"Oh, right, woohoo!"

_"Listen, you have to get the message out to evacuate the building, it's gonna self-destruct in about six minutes" _Leo informed.

"General!" April called out as she approached the man again, "My, uh, station manager just received an urgent message, from, uh, terrorist organization calling itself-"

"Goongala-Cowaunga" Casey finished and April gave him a look.

"They're gonna blow up the building, you have to get your men out of there in the next-"

"I thought I told you to keep those lunatics behind the barricades!" the general scolded the soldier.

"But general!" April called out as they were pushed away again.

Back inside of the building, the bomb was nearly down to five minutes and the Guardians and more of the Utroms began to run into the room.

"Mr. Mortu" one of the Utroms called out, "The transmat is powered up"

"Primary team, assemble on the platform" Mr. Mortu ordered, "We're going home" two of the Utroms in body suits kneeled down and they crawled out of their suits.

"I hate walking on my tentacles" one of the Utroms complained.

"Oh shut up Kraang" the other Utrom said.

Viola walked over to them and picked them up and then placed them on the transmat. "Have a safe trip home" Viola said with a smile and walked back to stand with the turtles.

A Guardian walked up to stand with the two Utroms and the transmat started to light up and they soon disappeared like they had did when they first arrived. Once they had disappeared, the Councilors rode in the room on their chairs.

"Mortu, we are the last, the others have been evacuated"

"Secondary team will accompany the Council" Mr. Mortu said.

The Councilors departed from the chairs in glass hovercrafts and landed in the Guardians hands and they stepped onto the transmat.

"It is good-"

"To be going-"

"Home"

"Professor Honeycutt, would you care to join us?" Mr. Mortu asked, "We would gladly offer you asylum on our home world"

"Really? Me?" Professor Honeycutt asked, "To live amongst an advance, peaceful civilization where I can use my knowledge and skills for good? It's a dream come true" Professor Honeycutt turned to face the turtles and Viola, "But my friends, I will miss you; I-I can't thank you enough"

"Take care of yourself Professor" Donnie said.

"It was a wonderful experience to meet someone like you" Viola said. Professor Honeycutt soon walked to step up on the platform.

"Mr. Mortu" Leo spoke, "Thank you, for everything"

"Man, I hate long goodbyes" Mikey sobbed and hugged Raph as he continued to cry, which annoyed Raph a bit.

"It has been an honor to know you and your race Mortu-san" Splinter said as he bowed to him.

"It is we who are honor master Splinter" Mr. Mortu said and bowed to him.

"I wish to thank you as well" Viola said as she stepped to stand beside of Splinter, "For telling me of my ancestor, her true story of where she began"

"It has been an honor to know that at least one of her offspring's knows where she truly began in her life and we hope to meet again in the near future" Mr. Mortu said and bowed to her as well, "Before we leave, a small token of our appreciation" Mr. Mortu held out his hand and a glass orb appeared and he handed it to Splinter.

Something happened and it seemed to make Splinter go into some kind of trance, "You're master Yoshi was the most loyal, next to Varuna, that has ever served the Utrom, he gave his life to protect us, but his spirit lives in our collective history" Splinter soon came back out of his trance and he wiped away the tears filling his eyes, "And now my friends, you must leave this building while you still can" Mr. Mortu kneeled down and crawled out of his body and Viola picked him up, "Donatello, will you do me the honor of powering up the transmat"

"Sweet!" Donnie exclaimed excitedly and rushed to the panel as Viola placed Mr. Mortu on the transmat, "I'm all over it"

"Of course you are" Viola laughed, "You'll be over anything that you can get your grubby little hands on"

Before Donnie could do anything, something was thrown at the panel and it sparked as Donnie jumped away from it. They looked to see that the Shredder and the others have returned.

"As long as I live, you will not leave this place alive!" Shredder exclaimed.

Viola stepped forward and drew her sword, "I admire your sick, twisted determination, but I shall be the one that breaks it!"

Vanessa had stepped forward as well and drew her sword, "But I shall break you first"

The twins narrowed their eyes at each other and then charged at the same time, engaging in another battle. The Shredder had soon jumped in as well and started to attack Splinter and the turtles, knocking them down one at a time.

When he finished them off, he made his way towards the transmat, "For a thousand year struggle ends now!"

One of the Guardians drew his sword as the Shredder got closer, but then the turtles ambushed him, managing a few hits before Splinter jumped in and kicked him off the transmat. The Guardian handed the Council he was holding and was about to engage in the fight, but Donnie held him back.

"No, protect your masters, we'll handle the Shredder!"

Hun and the Elite had then left the room while Shredder stood back up and made his way back towards the turtles and Splinter. Donnie was back at the control panel, trying to work out the wrecked controls before he hit a button and the transmat began to work again.

"We shall meet again" the Guardian said and they began to disappear.

"After ten centuries, I will not be denied my revenge!" Shredder exclaimed. The Shredder rushed to catch them, but they had completely disappeared, enraging him further. "You" Shredder said threatening to the turtles and Splinter, "You have been little more than thorns in my side, but now, you have robbed me of my triumph! And for that, you shall pay with your lives!" Shredder raised his claw to strike, but Splinter blocked it with his staff.

"Shredder, there is no time!" Splinter said, "The building is about to implode, even you cannot survive"

Shredder used his other claw and broke Splinter's staff, "Then we shall all parish together!"

Donnie tried to use his staff to hit the Shredder, but it only broke in half and Shredder kicked him. There was nearly a minute left on the bomb. The Shredder then knocked down Splinter and then Mikey attack and got a few hits in and Raph tried to throw his sais at him, but he only caught them and then kicked Raph and Mikey back. Leo then managed to knock Shredder down, making him drop the sais and Raph picked them up. When Shredder stood back up, standing between Leo and Raph, they charged at him and managed to get a few cuts on his suit, making him spark.

"Guys!" Donnie called out as he ran towards the control panel, "Use your weapons to penetrate his armor, I think we can stop him for good!" Donnie kicked at a loose metal board and caused it to fall. Leo handed Splinter one of his swords and they all began to attack Shredder, stabbing their weapons into his armor.

"You pathetic creatures!" Shredder groaned as he was still standing, "Cannot hurt me!"

"Don't be so sure!" Donnie shouted and connected two wires together. A large spark flew and it struck the Shredder and he fell down. As they walked to stand around his fallen body, Viola had jumped down from the ceiling and rushed to stand with the turtles.

"You guys knocked him out!" Viola said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Where's your sister?" Leo asked.

"She just disappeared, I couldn't find her"

They had then heard a noise coming from the Shredder and they looked down to see smoke seep out from the Shredders stomach and it started to open up and they saw eyes inside.

"The Shredder's" Donnie started and the Utrom prisoner crawled out, "An Utrom!"

"Ahh!" Mikey screamed, "It's the prisoner dude! He's the one who-who-"

"Who escaped after causing Mortu's ship to crash on earth a millennium ago!" the Utrom said.

"You ain't so tough now!" Raph shouted, "Let's just squish him!"

The Utrom growled and jumped to attach himself on Raph's face and he squirmed around to try and get him off.

"What did you say?" the Utrom laughed, "I can't seem to hear you!"

"Get him off!" Mikey shouted as Leo tried to pull him off, "Or there's gonna be a tiny little Shredder alien busting out of Raph's chest!"

"That's not helping!" Viola shouted.

The Utrom snapped at Leo and he let go, then Viola rushed forward and gave a kick at the Utrom, finally knocking him off of Raph's head. The Utrom scurried away and hid somewhere in the room. Donnie rushed back to the control panel and began to try and get a location in for them to escape.

"Guys, quick, I've got the transmat recalibrated" Donnie said.

"Hey!" everyone looked up to see Vanessa standing on a giant beam above them and it looked ready to fall, "No one shall leave this place alive!"

Vanessa sliced her sword through the last line holding the beam up. The beam began to fall and the turtles, Splinter and Viola jumped out of the way in time as the beam fell and the wires from the beam sparked and flew all over the place and it hit those organic pods and it caused a fire to break out.

"Vanessa!" Viola screamed as she ran around the room to try and find her sister.

She had then saw a hand poking out from beneath the beam and she rushed over to pull her sister out from underneath. She held her close and tried to stand up, but she looked around the room and saw the fire and it brought back those horrible memories six years ago and it paralyzed her.

She felt arms wrap around her and picked her and her sister up and she looked to see that it was Raph and he rushed to get to the transmat with his brothers and sensei. The beam of light came down and they jumped into it in time as it came down.

Outside, the building exploded and April and Casey took shelter behind the battle shell as a bright light nearly blinded them. The girls hoped out of the van and looked ahead of them and saw a giant hole where the building once was.

"The guys" Casey said gravely.

"Oh no!" Phoebe cried as she hugged Sara.

They heard something above them and they looked up to see the same blue beam and they watched as Splinter, the turtles and Viola and Vanessa fall out of it. The turtles and Splinter landed on top of the battle shell while Viola and Vanessa landed on the ground.

"Well, I got us out" Donnie said, "But apparently I neglected to get us down"

"Guys, master Splinter!" April exclaimed in relief, "You're alive"

They all cheered as they gave each other hugs, but it died down when they realized that Viola wasn't standing with them and then their attention turned back to Viola. They walked to stand behind Viola as she laid her sister out on the ground, hovering over her.

"Oh my gosh!" Phoebe exclaimed as she got a closer look at Vanessa.

"Is that?" Winter asked.

"My sister" Viola finished, brushed her hand through Vanessa's hair as tears started to drip onto her face.

"What's going on?" Sara questioned, "I-I thought you said she died!"

"The Shredder must have taken her when she tossed me out of the building; something happened to her, she doesn't know who I am"

Vanessa began to stir when she felt something wet touching her face and her eyes fluttered open. Viola was tense when Vanessa turned her cold glare at her and she surprised her by grabbing her arm, spinning around and kicked Viola into the battleshell and then grabbed Viola's fallen sword. When Vanessa stepped away, she staggered a bit and leaned her hand against the wall to steady herself.

"Vanessa!" Viola gasped as she stood up when she saw blood drip from her head.

"Stay back!" Vanessa shouted as she swiped her sword at her, but wasn't intending to hit her, then she pointed her sword at her, "I shall return, and I will destroy you" then she looked back at the others and pointed her sword at them as well, "And those you love"

Vanessa stabbed the sword into the battle shell and then jumped onto it, then bounced between the building walls and onto the rooftop, disappearing. Viola stared where her sister had disappeared, releasing shallow breaths and then ran through the others, disappearing as well.

"What's going on?" Sara questioned.

"We will explain later once we're out of this area" Leo answered as he looked back to see more cars and sirens sound out.

Raph walked over and removed the sword from the van, staring at the flowers and vines engraved into it before hopping into the van with the others, hoping that he'll see Viola in less than a week and hoping that she'll be alright with all that has happened to her.


	27. Chapter 27

The turtles, Splinter, April, Casey and the girls, minus Viola, were sitting around in the lair.

"I still can't get over that you guys traveled to another galaxy, battled dinosaurs, and met an alien race" Sara said as she couldn't get over all that the turtles told them, "And you're saying that the Shredder was also an Utrom"

"Yeah, it was crazy scary!" Mikey exclaimed.

"And I can't believe I missed it all!" Winter huffed, "All that was a once in a life time opportunity and I was stuck in the van"

"Yeah, I wonder what would have happened if you went along" Phoebe said and laughed a little, "I bet that you would have been the dinosaurs bride instead of Viola-"

Phoebe slapped her hand over mouth and everyone was a bit tense, they looked over at Raph, who was still viciously beating the practice dummy, which he had broken everyday for the past two weeks. They haven't heard a thing from Viola since the incident and everyone was very, very worried. They understood why Viola hid away from them and they decided to give her some space, but now they were starting to worry greatly.

"That's it, I'm tired of waiting around to hear for her, let's just go to her place!" Raph suggested as he walked over to the others.

"She needs time to herself Raph, it's hard for her to accept that her sister, who she thought was gone, is on the Shredder's side" Leo said.

"I agree with Raph" Phoebe said as she stood up from her seat, "It's been two weeks, I think that's enough time to herself, it's time for her to spend some time with us, maybe even away from the city for a bit"

"She's right" Winter said, "Maybe we can go up to Casey's grandma's house to rest a bit, where she'll get some fresh air"

"But how do we know where she is" Donnie said, "The last time, she wasn't at her apartment"

"Well maybe we just have to "take a look" again" Sara said, placing air quotes around 'take a look' and a smirk on her face.

After everyone had packed some clothes and placed them in the battle shell, they were at Viola's apartment again, the turtles and Splinter dressed in disguise so the other residents would see them since they'll probably have no chance to get through the window if she wasn't even home.

"How do we get in?" Leo questioned.

"Promise me you won't be upset with me and scold me" Sara said to Leo and removed her beanie and handed it to him.

She then removed the hair pin from her hair and kneeled down to the locked and started to pick at it.

"Um, Sara" Phoebe called out, but she shushed her and continued to work. After a couple of minutes, Sara turned the knob and opened the door.

"Voila" Sara said with a smirk and stood up.

"You know how to pick locks?" Leo questioned with a look and his arms crossed, though he did thought it was a little cool that she knew how to do that.

"Don't give me that look, I only pick the lock on my doors because I either lost or forget my key" Sara explained.

"You know that I have a key to her apartment" Phoebe said and pulled out a silver key from her pocket.

Sara rolled her eyes and everyone entered the apartment. The apartment was just a regular looking apartment, but it had this vibe to it. Phoebe took the lead and headed down the hall as the others followed and she opened the door. They saw that the room was the only room in the apartment that was way different and had style to it: a Japanese style.

They looked at the futon on the ground and saw that there was a lump under the covers; Phoebe removed her shoes and walked over to it and laid down next to it for a bit before reaching over to pull the covers up to peek inside and then pulled the covers away from Viola's head. They saw that Viola didn't look well, her hair looked mattered and oily, her face looked pale and there were bags under her eyes.

"Hey" Phoebe greeted softly.

Viola glanced over to see the others in her room and sighed before she pulled the covers back over her head, "What're you doing here?"

"We were worried about you" Sara said.

"I'm sorry that I worried you guys, but I have some things to work out"

"I know that you want to figure out how to get your sister back, we all get that, she's family, but you don't have to do this alone. You think you have to do this alone because she's your family, but we're also your family and we want to help you out, we love you too much to watch you struggle with something alone when we know that we can help you" Phoebe argued, placing her hand on the lump of the covers.

Viola was quiet for a bit before she moved the covers away to look at Phoebe and she smiled at her.

"We're thinking of going up to Casey's grandma's house for a while and we're dragging you there because by the look of it, you've been holed up in this room and you need some fresh air before you kill yourself with your own stank" Viola smiled a little wider and chuckled to herself and nodded. Phoebe stood up and lead everyone out of the room, but she turned back to make sure that Viola got out of bed.

"Wear a dress or skirt or something" Phoebe said and soon left the room.

Viola had taken a shower and packed some clothes as well and they all soon piled in the battle shell and headed towards Northampton. When they arrived, the girls went inside to change into their summer clothes. Viola was in the hall, wearing her dress, fiddling with something in her hands.

"There you are" Phoebe said as she walked around the corner.

She saw that Viola was messing with something in her hands and she placed her hands on hers; she opened her hands up to reveal a beautiful white butterfly hair fork.

Viola brushed her thumb against the butterfly, "It was something that Vanessa gave me when I was upset when a boy pushed me; I wasn't as strong then as I am now, I was a cry baby and Vanessa was the one who protected me whenever she can" Viola then laughed a little, "She had a serious temper issue"

Phoebe laughed a little too, "Like Raph"

Viola looked up at her with slight surprise, but then she blushed and smiled, "Yeah, kind of like Raph"

Phoebe took the hair fork from her hands and pinned Viola's bangs back, revealing her face and fashioning it so that it stood out against her hair.

"Mikey told me that Raph told you that he liked you" Phoebe blurted out and snickered a bit when Viola's whole face nearly went red, "That's so cute that he has a crush on you"

Viola looked to the side, looking a little sad, "I don't think it'll work out"

"Why? Because he's a mutant turtle?"

"No, never that; i-it's just that... I can't talk about it now, I'm not so sure about the whole situation myself right now"

"Well that's ok, just tell me when you're ready"

Viola nodded and they gave each other a hug. Phoebe took a hold of her hand and they began to make their way outside, but when they walked out the front door, Viola stopped.

"I kind of just want to sit by myself" Viola said and rolled her eyes when Phoebe gave her a look, "I promise I'll join you in a few, I just want to enjoy the silence before I enter the rogue house over there"

Phoebe and Viola looked over to watch as Splinter knock Mikey down, causing him to crash into his other brothers, but Leo had jumped out of the way to land in front of Splinter and the two laughed a little.

"Ok, I'll leave you to your peace" Phoebe said and walked to stand with the others.

When she made it over there, she pushed her shoulder against Raph's and when he looked at her, she motioned her head towards the house and he looked to see Viola sitting by herself on the porch swing and she gave him a push forward before he walked over to the house by himself.

"Ooohhh" Mikey teased and Phoebe lightly smacked him on his chest.

"Let them have their privacy and nobody look" Phoebe said to everyone.

"They're sitting outside" Casey pointed out.

"Then turn your back to them"

Raph had made his way up the porch and sat down beside of Viola, she acknowledge him with a small smile and wave, but then things between them were kind of quiet and a little awkward.

"U-uh" Raph spoke first, "That's a nice hairpin you got there"

Viola looked at him and touched her hairpin, "Thanks, it was something that Vanessa had given me"

Things were quiet between them again, but then Raph spoke again.

"We'll find a way to get her back, that's a promise"

Viola smiled a little, though it seem a little unsure, "Thanks, but I don't think that it's a promise that can be kept; I don't know what Shredder has done to her to make her forget about me and everything that has happened between us and him"

"But she's your family, you've protected my bros on more than one occasion and I'd like to help you out, she is your sister after all"

Viola sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled a real one at him, "Thank you, that makes me feel a little better"

Raph smiled a little too, a small blush covering his face as he started to think about how beautiful she was right now, wearing a gorgeous dress and had her bangs pinned back with a beautiful hairpin that stood out amazingly against her hair.

He decided to be brave for once with her and leaned forward to give a small peck on her cheek. He nearly wanted to break out into a big smile when Viola looked at him with utter surprise and her face nearly went as red as his mask. Viola looked forward, but took a glance at Raph before she looked away and chuckled a little.

"I really don't know what to think about something like this" Viola said, "I've never really think about things like this since I practically shut everybody out when I thought Vanessa was gone"

"But you don't really have to think about it" Raph said, "What do you feel?"

Viola looked at him for a second with a smile before she leaned back and looked forward again. "I feel... when you did that, I felt kind of weak... and when we were in prison on D'Hoonnib, I looked to you for comfort because something about you made me feel like you'll give me strength at my weakest moment, and yet you make me feel weak at the same time. I've never felt like this before with anyone"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, you kind of make me feel a little weak too"

"How?"

"Just, when you smile"

"When I smile?"

"Yeah, when we first met, you always held a straight and serious face, but when you smile... heh, just takes the words right out of my mouth" Viola blushed a deep red again and tried not to smile, "And whenever you move your hair out of your face so we can actually see it, you have amazing eyes when I can actually see both of them"

Viola laughed lightly, "Wow, I never knew you could be so sweet Raph"

"Yeah, well, with you, I know that I can say things like that without you teasing me or laughing at me, like my bros do, probably what they're gonna do once we're back over there with them"

Viola looked over at the others and smiled, "I think Phoebe's lending us a hand, they all have their backs turned to us"

Raph looked over and saw that they did have their backs turned, "Yeah, but that won't stop them from teasing me about being alone with you"

"Well, don't beat them up, no matter how many times you beat up Mikey, he still teases you about things"

"Fine, I won't today, because we came here for rest and relaxation"

Raph and Viola stood up and made their way towards the others. They all sat down on a picnic blanket and just talked and had some fun. When night fell, they had a fire going and were roasting some marshmallows and having some s'mores.

Raph was sitting next to Viola and he was slowly moving his hand towards hers, making sure that nobody noticed him doing it and rested his hand on top of hers. Viola smiled a little, glad that the fire was making sure that her red face was hidden.

"I see you flirting Raph!" Mikey called out, bringing attention to the two teens holding hands.

"Just eat your s'mores and keep quiet Mikey" Raph said, but then Mikey threw his marshmallow at Raph's face and it stuck to his face. Viola had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing and Raph stood up, pushing against Donnie's head with his hand. "You are so dead laughing boy" Raph threatened and charged at Mikey.

"Watch the graham crackers!" Leo exclaimed, but Raph had stepped on them as he tackled Mikey. Leo and Donnie soon joined in on the fight and they wrestled around in the field.

"Pile on!" Casey shouted as he stood up and jumped into the fight.

"What a man-child" Winter laughed.

"You and Raph make a cute couple" Sara said, "I think you'll be a good influence on him, but I guess not right now"

Viola looked over to watch the guys roll around in one big ball and smiled as she brushed her hand against her cheek where Raph had kissed her.


	28. The Ultimate Ninja

It was still early in the night and the turtles were lounging around in the lair. Leo was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and when he had finished and grabbed a glass of water, he stopped when he noticed that there were stockings in his glass. He sighed in slight annoyance as he removed the stocking and looked around at April's drying clothes hanging all around the bathroom. He walked out and yawned a bit before he came across Splinter.

"Master Splinter" Leo said and they both bowed to each other, "May I speak with you?"

"Certainly my son" Splinter said.

"You know, it's great having April live with us, after all, I mean, she's been through a lot; she lost her place because of us, but it's just that-"

"Hey, I found that hairbrush I promised you" April called out as she walked towards the two with a hairbrush in her hand, "How'd that shampoo and conditioner work out?"

"It was wonderful" Splinter said as he took the hairbrush, "My hair has never felt so full bodied and supple, and my split ends, they are all gone; truly, I am in your dept miss O'Neil"

"Oh, you more than welcome" April said and soon walked away.

"What is it you wanted to speak to me about Leonardo?" Splinter asked.

"Nothing sensei" Leo decided to drop, "Everything's just fine"

Raph was sitting on the couch, twirling his sai in irritation as he watched the news about crime rates going up for the past few weeks.

"I hate watching the news!" Raph groaned as he turned the TV off, "It's all bad, these gangs out there, banging heads, it really ticks me off!"

"Raph, everything ticks you off" Donnie called out from his lab station.

"Not everything... alright everything"

They heard a noise and they looked over at the elevators and they saw Viola and Winter walk in carrying two bags each of groceries.

"We got the groceries!" Winter called out.

"Well, I can think of one thing that doesn't tick me off all the time" Raph said as he watched Viola walk across the room.

"Hey guys" Phoebe called out as she came out of the kitchen and rushed to them, "Let me help out"

When Phoebe was about to grab one of Viola's bags, she looked at her and placed her hands on her hips and raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"What?" Viola asked, wondering why she was giving her a scolding look.

"You're not wearing you hairpin" Phoebe said.

"Yes I am" Viola rebuked and leaned her head to the side to show that she attached the butterfly hairpin to her choker necklace.

"That's not where it belongs" Phoebe argued and removed the hairpin.

"Hey! Wait-Phoebe!" Viola exclaimed as Phoebe started to mess with her hair, but she couldn't do anything since her hands were full with the grocery bags.

Phoebe had soon finished fashioning Viola's hair they same way that she did at the farmhouse and then grabbed one bag from both Viola and Winter and walked away. Viola sighed and rolled her eyes and decided to drop it for tonight.

"Hey, can you take this?" Winter asked Viola, "I want to see what Donnie's working on"

"Sure" Viola said and grabbed the grocery bag.

"Hey, where's Sara?" Leo called out from the top level of their lair.

"She's at a ballet class, so she won't be coming tonight" Viola answered and soon went into the kitchen. Winter walked over to Donnie and saw that he was still working on that hovercraft that April and Casey had stolen to escape the TCRI building.

"Man, the technology on this hovercraft is amazing" Donnie said, "Did those Utroms know how to make cool stuff or what"

"I'd say or what since I never got a chance to meet them" Winter pouted as she stood beside of Donnie, "So, what was their lab like again?"

"It was all techno organic"

"Like it was all tissues or something"

"Yeah, something like that"

"That's so cool!" They then heard a loud crashing noise coming from the kitchen.

"Hey Mikey!" Donnie called out, "Can you keep it down to only a slightly deafening cacophony!"

"Don't you know how to tell him off" Winter said a little sarcastically.

"Sorry bro!" Mikey called back and walked out with a bowl of popcorn, "We don't have any caco-phony, but we do have popcorn; the glorious, golden kernels of freshly popped joy, because it's movie night! WAHOO!"

"Movie night, right" Raph said a little irritatingly, "Where the heck is that bonehead Casey Jones? He's supposed to be bringing the movie!"

"Probably not the best idea letting Casey pick the flick" Donnie said as he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch and Winter grabbed a throw pillow and sat down on it near the table in front of Donnie, "No telling what we'll be watching tonight"

"Just something super spectacular!" Everyone looked over to see Casey come in through the elevator, "A movie so goongala great, they only remade it a gazillion times! And this, my friends, is the original, like me"

"Let's just hope you're the _only_ original Casey, I don't think we can handle another one of you" Winter joked.

Casey suddenly tripped and the video tape flew out of his hands and trough the air, but Leo had skillfully slid down the fire escape stairs, jumped in the air to catch it, flipped and landed perfectly in the living room.

"Let the movie begin" Leo said and placed the video tape in the VCR. The others had soon came in; April and Splinter sat down on the couch, Phoebe sat on the lawn chair and Viola sat beside of Winter.

"Uh, hey Viola" Raph said and she looked up at him as he scratched the back of his head nervously, "You, uh, wanna sit up on the couch"

Viola blushed a little, "Uh, is there gonna be any room for me?"

"I think you'll fit fine on the couch" Phoebe called out, "You're a tiny little woman"

"Phoebe, you know how Viola gets when you call her tiny" Winter said in a mocking tone.

"She's petite!" Winter and Phoebe said at the same time and laughed as Viola blushed a deeper red. Viola stood up and sat down beside of Raph, her hands folded nervously in her lap.

"In coming!" Casey shouted as he ran to the couch and hoped on it.

Though he landed beside of April and the jump in startled her a bit and then it made both of them uncomfortable afterwards.

"Hey bonehead" Raph called out, "I can't believe you picked a western"

"I can't believe it either!" April said, but she sounded more excited than Raph, "This is Rio Gato! I love this movie!"

"Me too! Isn't it great how that punk kid challenges the old man?"

"Just so the kid can make a name for himself and it's great where-"

"Um, guys" Leo interrupted, "Can we just watch the movie instead? Please"

"Sorry" April and Casey apologized.

"I've never seen anything like this before" Viola said as the movie began.

"What, the original?" Casey asked.

"No, this movie in general"

"What?! Are you saying you've never watched Rio Gato? Not even the remakes?!" Casey exclaimed and Viola shook her head, "What, were you living under a rock?"

"No, it's just that my aunt never really allowed us to watch movies, or have anything that involves electricity"

"So you've been living in the stone ages?" Mikey asked.

"Pretty much, yeah. But it's been that way since the Thorn Rose Clan began, they think that they'll keep the history and traditions alive if we lived in the time it began"

"Oh, you poor thing" Phoebe said a little mockingly.

"It wasn't that bad and it wasn't like that all the time, I wasn't really one to take risks much, but Vanessa was and she'd always drag me out of the house to sneak into the city since the main house is in a secluded part of the woods, though occasionally, a group of tourists would come by because they'd find it fascinating to see a real Japanese clan still in its old time"

"Speaking of old times" Winter said as they all turned their attention back to the movie.

When the movie was near it's end, everyone was practically on the edge of their seats as the kid and sheriff were faced off against each other. And when the kid began to countdown, everyone was tense, then a shot rang out and everyone gasped as the kid fell to his knees, then to the ground. The sheriff shook his head and walked away and that was the end of the movie.

"Can I pick 'em, or can I pick 'em" Casey gloated.

"You can certainly pick them Casey" Viola said as she stood up and stretched.

"They sure don't make them like that anymore" Leo said.

"How cool was that Sheriff Bart guy" Mikey said and pretended that his hand was a gun.

"Yes, it was as if he was a samurai of the old west" Splinter said.

"Ahh" Mikey complained as he used his nunchakus to poke through the empty popcorn bowl, "The popcorns gone"

"I can't imagine where it all went, Mikey" Raph said sarcastically.

"I was hungry, but now I'm really hungry"

"You're a bottomless pit Mikey" Phoebe laughed.

"Maybe it's time for, oh I don't know, an ice cream run!" Donnie suggested. The turtles stood and cheered.

"Hmm, it is too dangerous on the surface, the increase gang activity alone makes it ill advisable to go" Splinter said.

"We'll be careful sensei" Leo said.

"Yeah, something sweet sounds good after eating that salty popcorn" Winter said.

"I will accompany you to insure that you do not get into mischief" Splinter said as he stood up, "Besides, I am craving a double thick ice cream shake"

"You're so cool master Splinter" Phoebe laughed.

Everyone soon piled into the battle shell and made their way towards the ice cream parlor. They parked the van and April, Casey and the girls went inside to get the ice cream.

"Alright boys" April said as they came back, "Who ordered the double banana split with caramel and almonds?"

"Me! Me!" Mikey called out excitedly, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!"

"You say that one more time and I really am gonna scream" Donnie said.

"I gotta admit, that Rio Gato turned out to be a great flick" Raph said, "One thing though: how'd Sheriff Bart beat the kid when the kid obviously had better skills?"

"I believe the young gun slinger fought only for fame and glory, while the sheriff fought to protect his friends and loved ones" Splinter said, "Of course, possibly Sheriff Bart won because it was only a movie and needed a happy ending"

"Yeah, maybe"

"I don't know, statistically, the odds are against it" Donnie said.

"Thanks for the stats brainiac" Mikey taunted.

"I think those with selfish goals will meet their downfall much sooner than they think since they'll possibly be blindsided by what's really up against them" Phoebe said and everyone looked at her with surprise, "What?"

"That sounded like something Viola would have said" Winter said.

"You'd be surprised at what'll happen to you when you spend the weekend at Viola's" Viola laughed a little and continued to eat her ice cream.

"But Sheriff Bart was pretty quick on the draw for an old guy" Leo said, "I mean he was-"

Viola sensed something wrong, "Leo!" Leo had turned around just as she said that and caught a kunai with a purple cloth tied to the ring end.

"Leo!" Raph called out and now everyone was up on their feet.

"Watch your backs" Leo whispered to them.

"Get behind me" Casey said to April as he stepped in front of her.

"Yeah right" April said.

"I've seen this marker before" Splinter said as he looked at the kunai. Leo was surprised when the kunai disappeared from his hand and he looked back to see Splinter holding it.

"Though not around here"

"Do you think it's the Foot?" Raph questioned, "Are they back?"

"It is not the Foot, it is a challenge, a marker for a duel, a duel until there is only one left standing"

"Young warrior" a mysterious voice called out and they looked back to see a man in a mask with long red hair step out from the shadows, "The one called Leonardo, I have come to this dimension to battle Oroku Saki, The Shredder, but you stole that honor from me when you defeated The Shredder in combat; and so, for fame and glory, I must destroy you instead. I challenge you young warrior to a duel"

"Hold on wackbag" Raph said as he stepped up and drew his sais, "You mess with my brother, you mess with me"

"You mess with all of us" Casey said.

"You got that right" Mikey said as he and Donnie stepped up as well with their weapons drawn.

"Ditto" Donnie said.

"These are not the rules" the mysterious man said as he turned his attention to Splinter.

"...Yes, I know" Splinter answered.

Leo gasped in shock and the mysterious man bowed to him before he pulled out a small paddle drum with two small balls on strings attached to it and twisted it between his hands. The paddle drum began to glow and it turned into a regular paddle. The man let the paddle go and it floated in mid air, another ball of light lit up and the paddle floated to it before another mysterious man appeared wearing a mask as well, holding the paddle in his hands.

"Master Splinter, what is all this?" Leo asked.

"It is a universal challenge match" Splinter answered.

The floating mysterious man waved the paddle in the air and they were all incased in a dome.

Raph tried to break it with his sais, but it didn't even leave a scratch, "What's up with this cage?"

"If the warrior named Leonardo refuses the match, then your lives are forfeit" the floating mysterious man said.

"And if he accepts and loses, then his life is forfeit" the red-haired man finished.

"You must choose my son" Splinter said.

"Sensei, there is no choice, I accept the challenge" Leo said.

"So noted" the floating mysterious man said, "Challenge accepted; duelist, prepare"

"Soon warrior, you shall taste defeat" the red haired man said, "But in my favor, I've added an additional compensation"

The red haired man held his hand out and a pool of water floated to the air and formed a cylinder and when the water disappeared, but left a case that was like the one that surrounded everyone else, everyone gasped when they saw that Sara was in the cylinder and she was wearing her ballet outfit.

"Sara!" Leo gasped.

"Let me out of here you wackbag!" Sara shouted as she slammed her body against the cylinder, but it didn't budge.

"What happened?" Phoebe called out to her.

"After I got your text that all of you were at the ice cream parlor, my ballet class ended and I was making my way towards you, but then Red here just ambushed me and slapped these bracelets on my wrist and now I'm suddenly here" Sara explained as she held up wrist to show a pair of gold bracelets on her wrists.

"This is not a part of the rules" Splinter called out to the floating man.

The man, from the look of his eyes, looked defeated, "It is... overruled"

"Whoever wins this battle shall claim her as prize" the red haired man said.

"I am not something to be owned!" Sara shouted in rage and banged against the cylinder again, but it was useless.

"Don't worry Sara, I promise I'll get you out of there" Leo said with a determined look.

Sara looked at him and sighed, leaning back against the cylinder.

"Master Splinter" Donnie called out, "What is going on?"

Splinter held his hand up for silence, "I will explain later, now is not the time" Splinter walked forward to stand in front of the floating man, "I demand a full observance" "Full observance accorded" the floating man said.

"A full observance?" the red haired man questioned, "I... fine old one, observe all you want, it will not change the outcome" the red haired man grabbed his cloak and when he wrapped it around him, he disappeared. "Warrior" the man's voice echoed out, "Warrior, prepare to meet your doom"

"Boy, he's a little overdramatic" April said.

"I wish I was fighting that nutcase" Raph said as he put his sais away.

"I wish I knew exactly what it is I'm supposed to do" Leo said in confusion.

"You must face him in combat my son" Splinter said as he lead Leo away from the others, "And you must be careful, he will be a difficult opponent, but you have the skill and most importantly, you have the heart to defeat him"

"And you have to get me out of this cage" Sara called out, "I don't want to be some prize, that's just degrading to women!"

"Don't worry Sara, I'll get you out of there" Leo said as he walked over to stand in front of the cylinder and then placed his hand on the case, "I promise"

Sara looked at him worriedly and placed her hand where his was, "Please, just be careful"

The floating man drifted over to the two and he waved his paddle over a puddle of water and it started move until it was under Leo and then he started to sink under it. Raph tried to dive for him, but Leo and the portal was gone by the time he landed.

"Leo's gone!" Mikey gasped.

"What did you do to him!" Raph shouted at the floating man as he tried to attack him, but Splinter held him back.

"Behold" the floating man said, pointing the paddle at the puddle of water and it floated up in the air and it showed Leo in the mirror.

"It is alright Raphael, calm down" Splinter advised and Raph soon calmed down, "All is in order"

"If I was you, I'd stick close to him so he won't blow his top" Phoebe whispered to Viola and she blushed a little.

"What do we do now master Splinter?" Mikey asked.

"Now, we wait" Splinter said as he kept his eyes on the mirror portal, "And we watch"

Leo began to walk around Central Park, wondering what he should do now or where that red haired man was. He thought he heard something through the trees and looked to where the noise came from, but he didn't see anything.

He heard the noise again and he looked to see nothing there either, but then he looked up and saw that there was a purple cloak floating around in the air and it landed right in front of him. He turned around, thinking that the cloak was a distraction, and prepared himself, but he didn't sense that the red haired man used a magic trick and came out of the cloak, standing close behind him.

"Look out Leo!" Mikey called out when he saw the trick through the magic water mirror, "He's right behind you!"

"Save your breath Mikey, he can't hear you" Raph said.

The red haired man tried to strike Leo, but he easily blocked the hit and had a smirk on his face as he prepared himself for the fight. The red haired man threw a lot of hits, but Leo blocked everyone, throwing in a few strikes himself, but then he was suddenly kicked hard into a lamp post. The man then took out a kyoketsu-shogei and twirled around the heavy end on the chain and threw it at Leo as he was still down.

"Move Leo! Move!" Donnie shouted out.

Leo shook his head and he saw that the heavy end was coming right at him, but he ducked his head and it wrapped around the lamp post, but the man pulled at the chain and it broke the lamp post. Leo jumped out of the way just as it was coming down and was standing on his feet. The man threw the heavy end once again and Leo drew his swords and blocked the attacks as they kept coming.

When the man threw the end at him again, Leo moved his swords so that the end would wrap around both of the swords and pulled at it so that the man was coming at him as well and he jumped and kicked at him, knocking him into a tree. Leo then twirled his swords so that the chain would unravel and tossed it in the trashcan.

"Wahoo!" Mikey cheered, "Two points!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about" Donnie cheered and all the turtles high-threed each other in celebration on the first fight.

"I don't think it's over just yet" Winter said as she kept her eyes on the mirror.

The red haired man began to run towards a bridge over a road and then jumped on a moving truck. Leo ran to the bridge, but the truck was long gone, so he ran back and began to jump through the trees until he finally made it to the truck and jumped up, his weapons poised.

The man drew his swords as well and they began their second fight. The fight seemed evenly matched for a while, but then Leo did a sweep kick at the man, knocking him down again and jumped at him, but he pulled his cloak over him and he disappeared. Leo couldn't pull his swords out as the man reappeared behind him and then kicked him away.

"Hey, that guy cheated!" Casey exclaimed.

"That's gotta be against the rules!" Raph said.

"If it was all about rules, I wouldn't be in here!" Sara shouted from the cylinder.

"You're complaint is so noted" the floating man said.

"Noted? You need to do something!"

"Such things are consider at the end of the challenge, not during" Splinter said.

"At the end? It might be too late by then!" Donnie exclaimed as they turned their attention to the mirror and watched as Leo dodged the man's sword attacks.

Leo managed to dodge the man's attacks and jumped up to his feet, but as Leo continued to dodge the blows, he was being backed up to the edge of the moving truck and he was tittering at the edge. When the man laughed as he was about to make the final blow, Leo reached forwards and grabbed the small grappling hook that was on the man's belt.

Then he jumped off the truck and swung the grappling hook so it hooked to the end of the truck and then swung around so that he could kick the man off of the truck and they were both in the street on the bridge. When a car was coming their way, they jumped up on the pole wires until they were at the very top. The man had himself wrapped in his cloak and when he moved it out of the way, he had two new weapons; he used both and struck Leo down.

"Leo!" the everyone exclaimed.

"That's it I'm putting a stop to this!" Raph shouted and was about to charge at the floating man, "Starting with you weirdo!"

"Raph!" Viola exclaimed and placed her between Raph and the other man, "Your rage isn't going to help Leo"

"But that guys cheating!"

"Don't you think any of us aren't angry as well? This is a challenge, a duel of some ancient ritual that none of us know about and it's obvious that we can't interfere with it. We all hate that we can't do anything for Leo but flying rage isn't going to stop this fight, so please, trust that Leo will win and survive this, no matter what dirty trick this guy uses"

Raph clenched his fist in anger, but had calmed down when Viola placed her hand on his fist.

"Sensei, isn't there anything we can do?" Donnie asked.

"Yes" Splinter said and walked over to the floating man, "As family members, we claim right of attendance"

The man seemed hesitant, but then started to shake the paddle, "So granted" The water mirror dissolved so that it became water again and it moved to the ground and under the dome and it started to make it and everyone in it sink through the ground.

"Whoa, this is too strange!" Casey exclaimed and held his breath and nose as the sunk fully under the ground.

Back with Leo, he was still a bit disoriented and when he looked up, he saw that the man was coming at him with the claw blade, but he had grabbed it and kicked the man back, but he had taken the claw blade. As Leo advanced on the man, the others had reappeared way across from the fight and they saw that Leo was now up while the man was knocked down.

"Whoa" Mikey gasped in awe, "This isn't how we left things"

"Change is good" April said happily.

"Yo, you go Leo!" Casey cheered.

Sara was standing close to the cylinder as she had her hands on it, but she still looked worried, not know what the man would do to turn things around. The man was on his side so Leo wouldn't see him pulling out a handful of green dust, and when he threw it at him, distracting Leo, he jumped out of the green smoke and repeatedly kicked at him until he was at the edge. Then he punched him in the chest, knocking him off and falling to the ground.

"Leo!" everyone exclaimed.

"My son!" Splinter shouted in distress.

The man just laughed in victory, but he stopped when he saw that Leo was dangling from the wire and he rushed towards him as he drew his swords and sliced the wires holding him. Leo fell towards the river, but he was still connected to the bridge and he was left dangling in the air. The man raised his swords and sliced the support and Leo began to plummet towards the water.

"We've got to help him!" Donnie exclaimed.

The turtles drew their weapons and tried to break the dome, but it was useless and it didn't even leave a scratch. Leo continued to fall to the river, he put the claw blade on his hand and stuck it in the side, though he continued to fall, he finally stopped when he was near the water.

"Whew, I have got to get me a pair of these" Leo sighed in relief and started to climb up. The red haired man then jumped over to stand in front of the others.

"He is finished! I have won!" the man cheered and laughed, "I am the ultimate warrior on this planet! With this victory, my fame and glory grows, soon all will know my name, I am the Ultimate Ninja!"

"That's a strange name" Phoebe muttered to the other girls.

"And now, I shall claim my prize" the Ultimate Ninja said and raised his hand.

The cylinder that Sara was in began to move, it came right out of the dome and it stopped right in front of the Ultimate Ninja; Sara had fallen down to her knees when the cylinder had moved and she glared up at the man.

"Just wait pal and I'll give you all the fame and glory you can handle!" Raph threatened.

"Hang on there Raph" everyone looked over and saw Leo standing across from them, "I'm not finished with him yet"

"What?" the Ultimate Ninja exclaimed, "I-it can't be"

"Oh, it be buster" Sara said as she stood up, "And you're gonna reap what you sow, kick his butt Leo!"

"Let's you and me finish this" Leo said, "Now"

The others cheered happily that Leo was alright. Leo had the claw blades ready while the Ultimate Ninja began to draw one of his swords. The battle soon began and the Ultimate Ninja threw some shuriken at Leo and disappeared. Leo easily blocked them and they hit the dome, then the Ultimate Ninja reappeared in front of the dome.

Leo jumped and kicked at him, causing his mask to fall off, then he started to repeatedly hit the guy. He had landed on his feet and drew his swords as Leo came at him again, but when he tried to strike, Leo dodged them, jumping over him and kicked him in the back.

The kick caused the Ultimate Ninja to lose his swords and now Leo has them. He jumped at the fallen man with the swords poised, but when he had stuck them into the ground, they were only near the Ultimate Ninja's neck.

"You lose" Leo said.

"No, I cannot lose, I cannot!" the Ultimate Ninja exclaimed.

"Sorry, you just did" Leo said, but then he gave him a bow, "But, you fought well, it's ok"

"I... I do not believe it. I... I surrender" Leo took the swords away and threw them away.

"Winner: Leonardo" the floating man said and shook the paddle and the dome and the cylinder that Sara was in disappeared. They all cheered as they rushed towards Leo and congratulated him on winning the fight.

"My son, I am so proud" Splinter said and then hugged him. Sara was soon walking towards him and everyone stepped back to let them have their moment.

Sara stood in front of Leo and she rubbed her arm nervously, but then she punched Leo in the arm, "You should have won on the first round!"

Leo rubbed his slightly sore arm, a little upset that it wasn't the kind of thanks that he'd expected. But then he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck and Sara hugged him tightly in relief, Leo was surprised at first, but he smiled and he hugged her back.

"I glad you're alright" Sara said as she pulled back and gave a small kiss on Leo's cheek, "But I'm not your prize"

Leo laughed a little as a small blushed covered his cheeks, "Of course not, I respect you more than that"

Sara blushed a little as well and looked to the side as she tucked a stray strand behind her ear and smiled a little.

Though they were all celebrating, the Ultimate Ninja pulled out that green dust and blew at it and the dust suddenly became a giant dragon. Everyone gasped as it was about to attack them, but lightning suddenly lit up the sky and the dragon was sliced in half, and when the green smoke disappeared, there was a giant man standing across from them with a sword in his hands, standing in front of the Ultimate Ninja.

"Your Highness" the floating man said as he bowed his head and the Ultimate Ninja bowed to the man as well.

"To use such dark arts in defeat, not only would you disgrace yourself, but you would disgrace me, your own father with your lack of honor!" the giant man scolded, "You have not earned this combat, yet you have the audacity to attempt to make a name for yourself in such a manner!"

"He's really chewing him out" Viola said with a small smirk.

"Splinter-san" the giant man addressed, "You have trained your students well; I salute you" they both bowed to each other and then the giant man looked at Leo, "You have fought well young one and won honorably" Leo smiled gratefully. The giant man held up his hand and it began to glow brightly before Leo's swords appeared, "I return to you, your katana" The swords landed in Leo's hands and they both bowed to each other as well.

"Young girl" the giant man said as he looked at Sara. Sara was a bit surprised and she pointed to herself to confirm that he was addressing her. "Step forward" Sara looked back at the others before she started to take nervous steps forward until she was standing in front of the giant man. "I want you to apologize to this young girl" the giant man said to the Ultimate Ninja.

The Ultimate Ninja straightened up and face Sara, but before he could say anything, Sara suddenly punch him in the face, knocking him back.

"I'm sorry for doing that" Sara said to the giant man, "But I'm very angry and sabes que, we both know he deserved it, el es un idiota total, I should be respected as a woman, not some prize for his enjoyment, I deberia darle un punetazo de nuevo!"

The giant man was quiet for a bit before he started to chuckle softly and then patted Sara on the head, "You are a strong one"

Sara calm down and gave a small smile and bow to the man before she ran to stand with the others.

"Once, many generations ago" the giant man spoke, "We visited this dimension, the people here took us to be goblins, tengu, but we endowed a chosen few with a first gifts of the art of ninjutsu. You have carried that tradition well, better even than my son. Come, we go home" the floating man drifted beside of the giant man and his paddle began to light up and they soon began to sink into a puddle of water until they disappeared.

Leo placed his swords away and Splinter placed a hand on his shoulder, "My son, you have made us all proud; come, let us also go home"

They all began to walk down the railing to the bridge.

"Master Splinter" Raph called out, "I don't mean any disrespect, but what the shell was that all about?"

"Be patient, when the time is right, all will be made clear"

"I hope that's soon because I'm really curious now" Phoebe whispered to Sara.

"Where did you learn to speak Spanish?" Winter asked.

"From my mother's side of the family, her great grandparents were from Spain" Sara explained, then she rushed a bit so that she was beside of Leo and lightly bumped his shoulder, "So what's up with this?"

"Huh?" Leo asked, a little confused.

"With this, with you saving me all the time. Are you trying to make yourself my hero or is this all just a really big coincidence?"

"I'd never want to place you in danger" Leo said, but then blushed a bit at what he said, "B-but now that you said it, it is a bit of a coincidence that I'm the one that keeps saving you"

"Yeah... but I guess it's not all that bad" Sara said and bumped her shoulder against Leo's again and they both laughed as they were making their way home to relax after a long tiring night.


	29. Return to the Underground

In the lair, Mikey and Raph were playing with a Frisbee while Leo was training and Donnie was in his lab, again. Mikey threw the Frisbee at Raph, but it went to high and he missed, then the disc began to fly towards Donnie's lab.

"Yo Donnie, heads up!" Mikey called out.

But he was too absorbed in his work that he didn't hear it and the disc crashed into a stack of papers and they flew everywhere.

"Hey you guys!" Donnie called out angrily as he grabbed the disc, "Can't you just leave me alone! I'm sick of all these interruptions!" Winter, Viola, Phoebe and Sara had came into the lair through the elevator and they saw what was going on. "I can't work like this!" Donnie threw the disc hard and it came at the girls, but Winter had caught it before it passed them.

"Whoa Donnie, what's with the Raph impersonation?" Phoebe asked and Mikey laughed a little, but Raph then elbowed him.

"I know you haven't slept in days bro" Raph said as everyone was making their way towards Donnie.

"Maybe you're, I don't know, working too much" Mikey said.

"I'm trying to find a cure for our friends, trapped in the underground city" Donnie said as he walked over to the computer with the crystal in his hand.

"That creepy place"

"Well how do you think they feel? They're like prisoners down there"

"Man, remember that spooky sole survivor guy?"

"He did have a face that you can't forget" Winter added.

"I wish I could forget" Donnie said, "Remember what he said?"

"I remember we had to put that wacko bag on ice" Raph added.

"And when our friends strayed too far from the city's crystal moon, they turn right back into monsters" Donnie continued, "We made them a promise, remember? A promise to find a cure, and I know the cure had something to do with these crystals, I just don't know what" Donnie soon began to walk back into his lab and Raph was about to say something, but Leo stopped him.

"Let him go Raph, Don's got that 'no matter what it takes' look, we better just leave him alone"

"You guys can do that, but I'm gonna see if I can help Don in any way I can" Winter said as she walked into Donnie's lab area.

Viola began to walk away in the opposite direction than the others and Raph reached out to place his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Where're you going?" Raph asked.

"I have something I need to talk about with Splinter" Viola told and gave a small smile, "I'll be back in a few"

Raph nodded and Viola soon went into Splinters room while the others did what they usually do. When Donnie pulled up his chair and sat down, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Winter had pulled up a chair and place it beside of him.

"What is it?" Donnie asked as Winter sat down.

"You've been struggling for days, you could probably use the extra help to work faster" Winter said.

Donnie smiled gratefully, "Thanks"

Days passed and Donnie and Winter worked together to try and figure out how the crystals worked or what they were made of while the others did what they usually. After trying a laser on the crystals, he stopped when he saw that it didn't do much and groaned as he took off his goggles.

"I still don't have a clue what these things are made of" Donnie groaned, "Much less how they work"

Donnie looked over and saw that Winter was laying her head on her arms and sleeping peacefully. He saw that there was a strand of hair loose from her headband and was hanging in her face; he smiled a little as he reached over and tucked the strand behind her ear.

"Maybe you have the right idea" Donnie yawned and decided to take a small break as well.

_Everything was dark at first and Donnie could hear someone calling out his name. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was back in the underground city. When he blinked, he was deeper in the city and he saw someone walking away from him as they called out his name again. When that person turned around, he saw that it was Quarry in her human form. But when he blinked again, he saw that she reverted back to her mutant form and she looked up at the crystal moon. _

_"Hear the crystal" Quarry told. _

_The crystal moon suddenly began to metal and pour all over the city and towards Quarry. _

_"Hear the crystal" a different voice called out. _

_The liquid crystal drowned Quarry, but when she floated out of it, she was back in her human form. _

_"Donatello, hear the crystal" Quarry told again._

Donnie began to wake up and sat up, "The crystal. Hear the crystal, that's it; at least I think that's it" Donnie began to shake Winter a little roughly to wake her up, but it startled her so much that she grabbed his hand and twisted in. "OW!" Donnie screamed in pain.

"Donnie!" Winter gasped in surprise and let him go, "Sorry, but you shouldn't wake up someone like that. What's up?"

"We got to wake the others" Donnie said and ran off.

Winter was confused at first, but complied and went to wake up Mikey while Donnie went to wake up Leo and Raph. They were all soon gathered in Donnie's lair, still very tired after being waken up so suddenly.

"This better be good Donnie" Mikey groaned sleepily, "A turtle needs his beauty sleep you know"

"I've been doing some testing" Donnie said as he began to prepare a small machine aimed at the crystals, "The crystals react to sound, high frequent sonic disruption to be precise"

"Oh, if we have to be precise, than we have to drop everything" Winter snapped a little, the turtles looked at her and she sighed a little, "I'm sorry, I'm just a little cranky from not sleeping all that much these past few days; continue"

"Ok" Donnie said and turned the knob on the machine, "That will cause them to break down into their purest, simplest form" when Donnie turned up the frequency on the machine, the crystals began to glow brighter and then they suddenly melted, "They liquefy!" Donnie turned off the machine, "And in this liquid form, we can administer a version of it like a serum" Donnie picked up the plate and then poured the liquefied crystals and poured them into a tube, "A cure; our friends will be able to leave the underground city forever"

"Don, I got to say" Leo started with a smile.

"Way to go egghead" Raph added.

"I, uh, I'm not so sure I deserve the credit" Donnie started.

"What, did Winter figure it out before you did" Mikey teased a little.

"I kind of fell asleep before he figured it out" Winter told.

"I kind of got the idea... in a dream" Donnie finished.

"A dream?" Mikey questioned.

"Donnie, you've been working too hard" Raph said.

"No guys, don't you get it" Mikey spoke again, "Don had a crystal dream like the one I had last time we went underground"

"We got to get back down there right away" Leo said as he walked over and picked up the tube.

"I've been working on that too" Donnie said as he opened a drawer from his desk and pulled out a blueprint, "It's a lot shorter, if we go straight down" The turtles and Winter walked into Donnie's work lab and there was a giant vehicle there. "Lady and gentlemen, and Mikey" Donnie said as he presented the machine, "I give you the Turtle Tunneler"

"Whoa, sweet ride" Winter gasped as she stood closer to it.

"Thank you, I designed and built it all by myself" Donnie gloated and the others rolled their eyes at his attempt to impress Winter.

"You're quiet the handyman Donnie boy" a different voice called out. Everyone turned to see Viola walk into the room and she was carrying a backpack and had a trench coat on.

"What're you doing here?" Raph asked.

"Winter texted me about what's been going on" Viola answered, then she started to climb the stairs, "I came prepared"

"For what exactly?" Leo asked.

"For the mission" Winter said as she started to climb the stairs as well, "Haven't you been listening?"

"You can't go!" Donnie exclaimed as he caught Winter's arm to stop her from entering the Turtle Tunneler, "It's too dangerous"

"I went last time and nothing... entirely bad happened; and this time we'll have Viola, an extra pair of ninja hands to kick some mega monster butt"

"I thought you said that they had turned back to their human forms!" Viola called out from inside the vehicle.

"Well it's been awhile since we've last been down, who knows what could have happened"

Winter pulled out of Donnie's grip and hopped into the vehicle. The turtles sighed and soon piled in as well. Donnie sat in the driver's seat while his brothers sat in the seats below, and since Donnie designed the machine for just him and his brothers, Winter and Viola had to stand up.

Donnie pressed a few buttons and it started up, "Tunneler engaged. You might wanna hang on tight ladies"

"Please don't call me lady" Winter called out, "It's the twenty first century and I'm far from a lady"

"Hey Viola, why don't you sit with Raph" Mikey teased.

Both teens faces turned red and Viola turned to hide her flushed face while Raph smacked Mikey in the back of the head. When Donnie began to drive, the girls had to hang on tight to the panels in the Turtle Tunneler.

"Easy there speed racer" Winter called out.

"Sorry" Donnie apologized and continued to drive.

After a while, they made it to the hole that they came to when they went to investigate what had happened.

"From here on in, the ride gets a whole lot bumpy" Donnie warned.

"That's comforting" Winter said sarcastically.

"It'll be alright" Viola reassured.

But when Donnie started up the drill and drove through the wall, the whole vessel shook violently; Winter and Viola yelped in surprised and wobbled around before they fell to the floor. The shaking had finally stopped when they drilled all the way to the abandoned subway tunnel.

"Are you girls ok?" Leo asked.

"Nothing damaged" Viola groaned a little.

"But my legs feel like jelly" Winter added.

"Just hang on for a little while longer" Donnie said.

"How much longer?" Winter asked.

"Uhhh... here we go again" Donnie began to drill through another wall and everything began to shake violently again.

After some time, they had driven back into the underground.

"Are we there yet?" Mikey asked and laughed a little, but then Raph smacked in the back of the head again.

"Zip it goofball" Raph groaned.

"I have to agree with Mikey on that one" Winter groaned as she continued to clutch on the panel for support.

They soon began to drive some more without drilling and it was a smooth ride the rest of the way.

"Next stop: underground city" Donnie said.

"Already?" Mikey whined slightly, "I barely had time to watch the in flight movie"

"Wait a minute" Leo spoke as he looked at the screen, "It's there suppose to be a light at the end of this tunnel?"

Viola stood up and walked over to look at the screen.

"How can you even stand?" Winter asked as she tried to stand up, but her legs were all wobbly, "I can barely feel my legs"

"Training" Viola said simply, "What do you mean by light Leo?"

"Oh, are you talking about the Crystal Moon?" Winter asked.

"Crystal Moon?"

"Yeah, there were these giant crystals that hung over the city and they glowed very brightly"

Winter soon stumbled slightly over to look at the screen, "Phoebe said that when they came to the end of this tunnel, there was a light at the other end that was emanating from the Crystal Moon. I wonder what's going on"

"Well, we'll see in just a second" Donnie said and they were soon in the underground city, but they saw that it was dark, "The Crystal Moon! It's gone!"

"Ok, I know there was a big Crystal Moon thing up on the ceiling the last time we were here" Raph spoke.

"It can't just be gone" Leo said.

"It's worse than that" Donnie said, "The Crystal Moon was the only thing keeping our friends from turning back into monsters"

"And now that it's gone... oh no!" Winter gasped as she covered her mouth in shock.

Donnie began to drive again around the city, but they had stopped when they spotted something on the screen. Everyone gasped when they saw that it was one of the rogue mutants from the last time they were down there.

"You were saying!" Mikey said gravely and the mutant jumped up on the tunneler.

The monster began to pound on the machine and Donnie began to drive to try and shake it off, but they didn't get far as they stopped when they spotted the spider monster right in front of them. The monster shot something out of its mouth and covered the vehicle and cameras; the turtles and girls groaned in disgust of the splatter. Donnie started up the drill and it splattered the monster with the slime, the monster growled and hit the side of the machine.

"Hang on!" Donnie shouted.

"Don't have much of a choice" Winter groaned as she held onto the panel.

Donnie drilled into the wall, knocking the monsters off the vehicle, and into another tunnel. But when they made it through, they were suddenly attacked by two other monsters; they picked up the machine and begun to carry it off somewhere.

They had walked to the edge of a cliff and below them was a river of lava; the monsters tossed the machine and it began to fall, the turtles and girls screamed as the machine hit and sunk into the lava. But then they burst out of the lava and drove to solid ground, everyone was shocked, but relieved.

"What?" Donnie said when he saw their reaction, "You think I wouldn't design this thing to withstand lava? What kind of idiot do you think I am?"

"Are there different kinds?" Mikey asked.

Winter sighed as she laughed a bit, "I love you Donnie boy"

Donnie blushed a bright red, though it was a joke, it still affected him. He continued to drive the tunneler into the city and as they drove through, they saw that it was deserted and still very dark.

"Um, why are we traveling _into_ the city and not to, say, Singapore?" Mikey asked.

"Because we made a promise to help our friends Mikey" Donnie reminded, "And we're gonna keep it" They drove in silence for a bit.

"They're out there" Raph spoke.

"Yeah, they're stalking us" Leo added.

"Why don't they attack already?"

"Cause they don't want the tunneler" Mikey said gravely, "Just the chewy snacks inside"

"I ain't chewy" Winter said.

"It's doesn't matter what you are, we're being hunted" Viola said as she continued to look at the monitors.

Donnie then stopped the machine in front of an entrance, "Guys, don't worry, I packed us a little something for emergencies" Donnie pressed a button and the top of the seats detached itself, "Our seat backs detach to become tech pack units, high-tech weapon and survival gear"

Viola grabbed her backpack and opened it up to pull out two handheld spotlight flashlights and handed on to Winter.

"You got any weapons in there?" Winter asked. Viola reached in and pulled out a small plastic gun. "Is that a taser gun?" Winter asked as she took it.

"It's has it's purposes" Viola said as she turned her flashlight on.

Winter looked at the taser gun and shrugged and placed it in her back pocket. Everyone soon stepped out of the tunneler.

"From the looks of this place, we're gonna need them" Donnie said.

"Excuse me" Mikey called out as he was the last one to step out, "Why are we getting out of the nice, safe, heavily armored vehicle?"

"Cause I need to find more crystals" Donnie said.

"And if we run into one of those people, maybe we can cure them and they can explain to us what happened to the Crystal Moon" Winter said as shined the flashlight around the place.

"Why're you hoping we run into one of them, they're scary monsters again!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Don't worry Mikey, it's gonna be a piece of cake" Raph reassured.

"Please don't say that" Viola sighed slightly, but then they heard a growling noise somewhere in the city, "I told you not to say that"

"Yeah, except we're the cake!" Mikey said as they all rushed into the entrance.

They soon walked into the room where everyone was once frozen.

Raph walked up to the still frozen Entity, "You still hear? Yo buddy, that bus ain't coming"

Viola walked over to him and lightly smacked him on the shoulder, "Stop it, we don't have time for this"

Donnie then walked over and reached for the crystal on the panel, "The Entity's amulet seems to be the only crystal we've seen, it's a start I guess" The crystal began to glow a bit, "But I'll need more"

A noise was heard in the room and everyone looked to see a door open up by itself. They walked through the door and saw that there were dozens of more frozen people in the room.

"What is this place?" Leo questioned as they all looked around.

"Just what we need" Mikey said nervously, "More creepy bald guys"

"Why do I get the feeling Mr. Sole Survivor didn't exactly tell us the whole story about his extinct race" A loud hiss was hear right behind them.

"Heads up guys" Raph said as they all looked towards the doorway and saw a shadow coming their way, "We got company"

Donnie held up the crystal and the door closed before the figure could get to it. But that didn't stop it from throwing itself on the door to get in. The turtles drew their weapons and prepared themselves. Suddenly, the door began to melt and they were surprised to see that it was Quarry that burst through the door.

"Quarry" Mikey sighed as they all lowered their weapons, "Am I glad to see you"

"Mikey, get away from her!" Viola called out.

"Mikey, look out!" Raph shouted when Quarry shot out acid from her mouth and shoved him out of the way, "Too bad the feeling ain't mutual" Quarry hissed as she stalked towards them. "What's up with her?" Raph questioned, "It's like she doesn't remember us at all"

"That's because I don't think she does" Leo said and Quarry hissed at them again.

"With the Crystal Moon gone, her mind must have slipped like the other monsters the first time we were down here!" Winter exclaimed.

"Raph!" Donnie called out, "Your tech pack!"

Raph's tech pack started to glow purple and it shot out lasers just as Quarry was about to jump on him and it sent her flying back.

"Don't worry, she's just stunned" Donnie explained.

"Not for long!" Mikey exclaimed as she stood up and prepared to strike again.

"Keep her busy" Donnie said as he removed his tech pack, "I'm gonna try the antidote serum on her"

"Guys" Leo spoke, "Tech packs only"

Quarry charged at Mikey and he pressed a button and a net was shot at her, capturing her for a moment before she used her acid spit to break free. Mikey continued to shoot out nets to trap her, but he then ran out.

"Nets, I'm all out of nuts!" Mikey said incorrectly, but then caught on what he said, "I mean nuts, I'm all out of nets!"

"Relax goofball" Raph said as he stepped beside of him and shot the purple laser out, then jumped on Quarry, "Donnie, any day now with that cure thingy!" Donnie was frantically trying to prepare the serum as the other continued to try and hold off Quarry.

"Quarry wait, it's me, Mikey!" Mikey said as Quarry approached him, "Don't you know me?" Quarry stopped and looked at him, "We're you friends, try to remember!" Quarry had a look on her face that almost made her seem more human, but then she turned feral again and picked Mikey up.

"Quarry, stop it!" Donnie shouted as he ran over and injected her with the serum. Quarry started to wobble a bit before she dropped Mikey and then she dropped to the ground. Viola removed her trench coat and tossed it on Quarry as she began to change back into a human.

Quarry looked up at the turtles, "You came back, I knew you would" Quarry fixed the trench coat so that she was completely covered and then Viola and Winter lead her to find some more proper clothes for her.

"I can't thank you enough" Quarry said as she finished dressing and walked to stand in front of the turtles, "You came back with a cure, it's unbelievable"

"Our little Donnie's full of all kinds of ideas" Raph said.

"Quarry" Donnie spoke, "What happened to the-"

"My real name is Sydney"

"Oh, sorry; Sydney, what happened to the Crystal Moon?"

"The Crystal Moon, it's all our fault; we were getting stir crazy being trapped down here, so we tried to find a cure ourselves. We used up a lot of crystals, but it was hopeless, we thought perhaps a larger piece of crystal might work, so we turned to the Crystal Moon; with the help of explosive geodes we discovered in a chamber in the underground city, we had hoped to break off a sizeable piece of the moon. But the geodes were more powerful than we realized, the entire Crystal Moon fell from the cavern ceiling and sank beneath the molten lava. Without the moons regenerative power, we instantly reverted back into monsters, savage, mindless, fighting among ourselves, lashing out at anything that moved. But now that you've cured me, you can cure all of us, we can all go home"

"Yeah, except for a little problem" Donnie said, "I only had enough crystals to make one vial serum, never expected to find a shortage of crystals down here"

"With the Crystal Moon gone, all the crystals are dead"

"We'd have to raise the Crystal Moon from the lava to bring back the energy source"

"What're you talking about?" Mikey questioned, "That thing must have melted away to nothing in that lava"

"No, it hasn't" Winter said, "Because of our research for finding the cure, the crystals are practically indestructible to anything but the high frequency sounds that Donnie preformed back at the lab"

"Well, if it's down there, let's get it back up where it can do some good" Leo said.

"Yeah, you two are on a roll today" Raph said, "Anymore bright ideas, we're gonna need one"

"Well, we could try to use the crystal cable from the old underground tram, secure one end to tram tower and the other end around a sturdy rock ledge, thus rigging a giant size variation of the old block and tackle. The ledge should provide us with a good angle for optimal leverage, then I'll take the Turtle Tunneler down into the lava to hook the cable to the Crystal Moon. We can use the explosive geodes Sydney discovered to dislodge the tram tower from its location and topple it over, we'll be cutting it close, but it just might work"

"Just one question" Mikey called out, "Who came up with this plan? Wackos-R-Us!" "It is a little unorthodox, but it'll work, I hope"

"How long can the Turtle Tunneler last under lava?" Winter questioned worriedly, "Though you may have built it to withstand it, but how long can it last when you're under for so long?"

"Don't worry, we'll try to be quick about it"

Winter looked a little unsure, but they soon carried out the plan and Donnie and Sydney hopped into the vehicle.

"Sydney, you don't have to do this" Donnie said as she closed the door and buckled up.

"Yes I do" Sydney rebuffed, "I'm the only one who knows where the Crystal Moon went down"

"Engaging inferred scanner" Donnie pressed some buttons and then started up the vehicle. Donnie drove into the lava and it sunk all the way down to the bottom. With the others, they were placing the explosive geodes around the tower.

"Explosives are in place" Leo informed to Donnie.

"Now all we got to do is sit back and wait for Donnie's signal" Raph said.

"But..." Winter started as she looked like she was trying to remember something.

"That doesn't sound like a good but" Mikey said.

"What's wrong Winter?" Viola asked.

"I have a feeling like we forgot something" Winter said, "A bad something"

They suddenly heard a roar and Leo turned on his spotlights and shined them around to show that the monsters were starting to surround them from above.

"How could you forget something like that?!" Mikey shouted in fear.

The monsters then started to jump down to their level and closed in on them.

"You girls stay out of this" Raph said.

"I'm cool with that!" Winter exclaimed and grabbed Viola's hand and ran to find a safe place to hide.

"Donnie" Leo called to, "We got company up here"

"Stall them" Donnie said as they continued to drive, "But try not to hurt them"

"Hurt them?" Mikey questioned, then jumped out of them way when one of the monsters attacked him.

Leo used a grappling hook in the tech pack and was pulled out of the way when two monsters were coming at him. Mikey was leading two of the other monsters to a higher point in the city. Donnie and Sydney were still driving around beneath, trying to find the Crystal Moon.

"There" Sydney said when she saw something on the screen, "The Crystal Moon"

"Good, keep an eye on the heat shields, they're starting to go" Donnie said.

Back on the surface, Leo was still using a grappling hook to evade the monsters while Raph was using the stun laser on two of the bigger monsters. Mikey continued to run from the monsters when he found that he came to a dead end, but then Leo had dropped in.

"Thought you could use a lift Mikey" Leo said and pulled himself and Mikey out of the way just as the monster attacked. Donnie and Sydney were soon getting closer to the Crystal Moon as it was just ahead of them.

"Heat shields are down to fifty percent" Sydney informed as she started to work up a sweat from the heat, "Structural breach in two minutes, we have to pick up the pace!"

"Almost there!" Donnie said.

Raph continued to use the stun laser, though it was no use on the bigger monsters, and the rock monster suddenly caught them and crushed his tech pack. Just when it was about to attack him, Mikey jumped on the rock monsters back, but it slammed it's back and Mikey into the wall behind.

"Donnie, hurry!" Leo called to as he ran from two of the monsters, "I don't know how much longer we can keep this up!"

Leo jumped off the ledge and pressed a button that shot out the grappling hooks and then swung down to Mikey and Raph and kicked the rock monster before it got any closer to them.

"Guys, look out!" Leo called out when he saw the spider monster crawling down the wall.

They all began to run, but the spider monster shot out some web like slime and captured the three. In the lava, Donnie was tying the cables around the Crystal Moon to make sure that it was secure enough.

"Crystal Moon is nearly secure" Donnie said.

"Heat shields are almost gone" Sydney informed, "We got thirty seconds before we're cooked"

"I just have to lock off the cable!" Donnie tried to do that, but it missed.

"Him and his big ideas!" Mikey complained as they struggled against the restraints and the monsters were closing in on them, "Come on guys, let's go down to the underground city, we'll have some laughs, we'll get eaten!"

Just as the monsters were closing in, a shot was fired and the monsters looked up to see a flare in the sky. While they were distracted, Viola had jumped in the middle and then she threw something down on the ground and they were engulfed in smoke. With the distractions, Viola had cut the turtles free and they made a run for it.

"That's my girl" Raph praised.

"I had a little help from Winter" Viola said with a small blush.

In the Turtle Tunneler, it was getting hotter and everything was sparking from heat overload.

"Heat shields are down to ten percent" Sydney groaned, "We're not gonna make it"

Donnie was still determined and tried again to hook the cable. And at another attempt to hook it, it finally latched itself.

"Yes! Guys, go now!"

"We're on it!" Leo said as they finally made it to the tower and then set off the explosions.

The tower was soon falling and as it did, it pulled the cable with it and the Crystal Moon was risen out of the lava pit, brightening up the cavern once again. And with the light, the regenerative energy had turned the monsters back to their human form. The turtles and girls cheered.

"Don, you did it" Leo said. But there was no answer on the other end and everyone was beginning to wonder what was going on. "Don, Sydney, can you hear me?" Leo tried again, but there was still no answer.

Winter gasped as she covered her mouth and ran to the shore of the lava pit and the others followed.

"Uh, they didn't... they didn't make it" Mikey said sadly.

When Winter's eyes were beginning to fill with tears, they started to hear a bubbling noise and they saw the Turtle Tunneler burst out of the lava. Everyone cheered in relief and Donnie and Sydney soon stepped out.

"Thank goodness you're alive!" Winter said as she rushed over and hugged Donnie.

But when she pulled back, she suddenly kissed Donnie right on the lips, surprising both him and the turtles, except for Viola, who looked at them with a happy smile. When Winter pulled back, she realized what she did and her whole face turned red and she pulled back.

"Uh, y-you know, we-we should, you know, find some clothes for the-the others" Winter stuttered as she started to slowly back up, "And, you know, you can work on the serum so they can get home" Winter grabbed Viola and pulled her along through the doorway and they were gone, leaving the confused turtles behind.

"What just happened?" Donnie asked, still confused and a little lost.

"I think you got yourself a girlfriend Don" Mikey teased.

Once Donnie was over the shock, he started to work on the serum and then admitted everyone with the cure. And once they were all cured, they brought them back to the surface.

"This is it guys" Donnie said as he helped Sydney out of the sewer, "Daylight again"

They all gasped in amazement at seeing the sunrise and Donnie saw that Sydney was crying a little, "What's wrong?"

"I..." Sydney started as she continued to gaze up at the sky, "I forgotten how beautiful it was. Thank you, from all of us, we owe you our lives"

They all soon went back to their old lives, relieved to be free from the underground.

"Come on" Leo said, "Let's go home" When Donnie turned around, he saw that Winter was gone.

"Where's Winter?" Donnie asked.

"She went home" Viola informed.

"She went home?" Donnie asked a little sadly.

"Don't worry Donnie" Viola said as she stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, "She said that she was confused as well and she just needs some time to gather her thoughts, I'm pretty sure she likes you too, otherwise, she wouldn't have kissed you"

"Are... are you sure?"

"Donnie, she kissed you; though I've only known her for a few months, it feels like I've known her for years and she wouldn't just kiss any boy" Donnie smiled a little in relief, "Ok, I'm gonna head home now"

Viola was about to walk away, but Raph stepped in front of her, "So, uh, I'll see you tomorrow"

Viola blushed and smiled a little, "Sure" Raph started to lean in to try and kiss her; Viola looked shocked as she tensed up and she pushed Raph back a bit roughly.

"Oh, wow, it's been a long night, I-I'm pretty beat; I'll see you guys tomorrow" Viola then rushed off and once she was out of sight, Raph's brothers began to laugh at his disastrous attempt to kiss Viola. The reason why Raph wanted to kiss Viola was because he was a little irritated that Donnie got to kiss the girl he liked and they weren't even dating.

"Maybe next time Raph" Mikey teased and then jumped down into the sewer when Raph started to chase after him. Leo and Donnie soon followed down and headed home to rest after a long night.


	30. Chapter 30

It's been a couple of days since the 'incident' between Donnie and Winter and Winter hasn't made any kind of contact with him or the boys. Donnie was moping around a bit because he hasn't seen or heard of her for a while.

It was late one night, the fourth night that Winter has counted, that she's been thinking and wondering about what she did with Donnie. But this time, she had all the girls and April over at her house and she told them what she did and hoping that they could help her with her situation.

"You kissed him?" Phoebe asked for the umpteenth time from the chair.

"I kissed him" Winter said in a 'I can't believe it' voice as she was laying on the couch, her head resting on Sara's lap and her legs on Viola's.

"You kissed him?" Phoebe asked again in a different tone.

"I kissed him" Winter sighed, thinking about it this time.

"You kissed him!" Phoebe squealed in excitement.

"I kissed him!" Winter squealed as well and covered her flushed face.

"First Raph and Viola and now you and Donnie" Sara said and laughed a little, "I didn't think they could get dates considering the way they look, not that they're bad looking"

"Well, they can't exactly walk up to a girl in the streets and ask them on a date" April said from the chair across from Phoebe's, then she got up and sat down on the floor in front of the couch, "But how do you feel about him?"

Winter moved her hands away from her face and sighed, "I... I don't know"

"Try to think about why you kissed him" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know why I did it, I just felt so scared when I thought he died under the lava and when he came back up, I was so relieved"

"Well so did I, but I didn't kiss him" Viola said, "But how did you feel when you're around him?"

"Umm... I feel... happy, and nervous for some reason... do I really like him?" Winter wondered as she started to think about it.

"Does your heart seem light or races faster when you're around him?" Sara asked.

"Sometimes" Winter answered, then she seemed to start to think deeper about it, "I think I suddenly felt this way, when we went to the underground city the first time"

"How?" Phoebe asked.

"Before that weird orb thing surrounded us, when I looked into his eyes, it felt like something... I don't know, it felt like a spark when I looked into his eyes"

"Soulmate" Viola said and everyone looked at her confusingly, "My grandmother said something about this when I was a child, she said that when you look into someone's eyes and you feel this spark, it's a spark in your souls, a type of signal that shows that you're meant to be together, like the red string theory"

"Oh yeah" Winter said, "I researched something about that a few years back"

"Winter, it's not something that you learn" April laughed a little, "It's just something that you feel and you figure out in that moment instead of ahead of it"

"I guess it's a little confusing to me and something that I never thought about because I use my head more than my heart"

"Oh you poor girl" Phoebe teased slightly.

"Well maybe you should stop thinking and start feeling" Sara advised, "You're dressed like a hippie, hippie's aren't supposed to think"

Winter laughed a little before she stood up and walked over to the hall closet, she opened it up and pulled out a basketball. "I'm gonna head out for a bit, I know you said to feel more, but I'm a thinker, I can't help it; thanks for the help" Winter soon headed out, leaving the girls behind.

In the lair, Donnie continued to mope around his lab, just tinkering with something and sighing.

"Donnie, you got to stop moping" Raph said as his brothers entered his lab.

"She hasn't come by or called, maybe she only kissed me because she was glad I didn't die, not because she liked me" Donnie sulked.

"Donnie! Donnie! Donnie!" a voice called out frantically.

Everyone looked over to see Phoebe run into the lair.

"How can you run? You're in heels" Leo asked.

"Practice" Phoebe said quickly, then rushed to stand in front of Donnie, "Winter's gonna be by herself at the basketball court on Lexington Ave., now's your chance to get some alone time with her!"

"What?" Donnie asked confusingly as he seemed to perk up a bit after the last few days, "B-but I-"

"But nothing, go-go-go!" Phoebe urged, pulling Donnie up and started to push him towards the exit.

Donnie soon left and went to the location that Phoebe had told him and when he made it, he saw that Winter was at the fenced in basketball court. She was walking around slowly, bouncing the ball every once and a while before she would stand in front of the hoop and tossed the basketball into the net.

Donnie jumped over the fence with ease and silently landed behind of Winter. She was bouncing the basketball as Donnie touched her shoulder, the basketball slipped from her hands as she screamed in surprise, but she calmed down when she saw that it was only Donnie.

"Donnie!" Winter scolded as she slapped his arm, "It's dark and scary out, don't sneak up on me like that"

"Sorry" Donnie apologized, then he kicked at the ground a bit while Winter went to pick up her basketball. Winter turned around to see Donnie kick the ground and saw that he seemed a bit nervous; she looked at the ball as she turned it around in her hands.

"I'm sorry that I've been gone for so long" Winter said as she bounced the basketball a couple of times, "I've... I'm still a little confused... or really... I feel a little worried"

"About what?"

"About us. You're like my best friend and relationships can be tricky and can put a lot of strain on us, I'm scared that, what if it doesn't work out, then I'd lose my friend and boyfriend"

"Boyfriend?" Donnie asked in an excited tone about the possibility of being her boyfriend.

Winter blushed a little, "Well, yeah. Heh, all this time I've been just thinking about what I've been feeling, when I barely thought about what you felt. W-what do you feel about this Donnie?"

"Uh, well, it's uh... I really like you Winter"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're smart and cool and really fun"

Winter smiled as her blushed turned a bit more red, "I think you're real fun too, and the adventures we have together, it's so exciting; but other than the adventures we've had these last few months, I feel more excited about the adventures me and you will have together"

"Really?!" Donnie said excitedly.

"Yeah. But I've got to ask; remember when we were in the underground city, the first time, before we were captured, did you feel something when we looked into each other's eyes?"

Donnie thought about it, "Yeah, now that you mention it, it was sort of-"

"A spark" Donnie and Winter said at the same time.

They both smiled and laughed a little. Winter placed her basketball on the ground and stepped forward to wrap her arms around Donnie's neck and hugged him; Donnie then wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back too. When they pulled back slightly, they looked into each other's eyes and they had that same spark again, they slowly leaned in and kissed each other, this one more meaningful than the last.


	31. City at War Part 1

Leo and Raph were running along the roof tops late one night and they had stopped when they came across a billboard that had a target on it. Leo drew one of his swords and flipped towards the billboard before jumping and stabbing it, but it was a little off from the bulls-eye and he was a bit disappointed in it.

"Leo, I don't know about all those fancy moves" Raph said as he jumped onto the roof and then threw his sai, which hit the bulls-eye perfectly and then jumped onto the billboard beside of Leo and removed his sai, "I prefer just getting the job done"

Leo reached up and removed his sword from the billboard as well, "Master Splinter says grace and form should flow together in beauty, creating true power"

"Whoa, that's a little too intense bro, you gotta relax a little. How about a little game of Follow the Leader?"

"And since when did you become leader?"

"Since right now!"

Raph jumped off of the roof top to the next and the chase began with the two. As they continued to run, Raph jumped onto a water tower and then grabbed a wire just below, but it had snapped and he swung on it.

"Just your friendly neighborhood Turtle-Man!" Raph exclaimed.

Then Leo had done the same thing that Raph did, "You look more like Raph-zan, Lord of the Jungle to me!"

"Well what's that make you? Jane or Cheetah?"

Raph had heard something and looked towards it direction and they both swung onto a roof top and Raph looked down in the alleyway.

"Some kind of deal going down" Raph whispered as they looked down to see the mob and a Foot Elite with some Foot soldiers.

"You got the stuff?" the mobster with the squeaky voice that Raph and Viola had met once before asked.

"Do you have the payment?" the Foot Elite questioned.

"Right here" the mobster said as he held up a suitcase and tossed it towards the Elite.

The Elite caught it easily, set it on the ground, opened it up and took out one of the stacks of cash.

"Hey, you actually gonna count it?" the mobster asked a little nervously, "We ain't got all night"

"This is only half on what we agreed" the Elite said as he closed the case.

"You get the other half of the money once we leave with the stuff"

The Elite stood up and kicked the case to the side and stepped out into the light, "You are not going to leave" the Elite drew his weapon, "Foot ninja!" the Foot soldiers jumped out from the shadows as well, surprising the mob gang. "Exterminate these insects!"

"Exterminate me?" the mobster questioned, "We'll exterminate you pal! Let him have it boys!"

"ENOUGH!" a familiar voice shouted out.

A figure jumped in between the two gangs before standing up straight; everyone was surprise by the sudden appearance, but Leo and Raph were more surprised to see Vanessa standing there. Vanessa turned to the Elite and made a surprise attack by kicking him down.

"You insolent fool!" Vanessa scolded, "You bring dishonor to the Foot clan!"

"Hey, it's that brat!" the mobster exclaimed and Vanessa turned to raise an eyebrow at the man.

"What are you talking about?" Vanessa questioned.

"Don't play dumb brat, I still have the bruise from the last kick you gave and now I'm gonna return the favor!"

The mob gang opened fire on the Foot and they scattered. The Foot were easily dodging the bullets and knocking down the mobsters, but then the bullets were flying up at Leo and Raph and Leo drew his swords, about to jump into the fight, but Raph stopped him.

"Whoa, Leo, where're you going?" Raph questioned, "Those are all bad guys down there, minus Vanessa, sort of"

"But, it's not right" Leo exclaimed.

"Right or wrong, it's not our fight!"

"I'm not too sure about that; I mean, what about Vanessa? She's not meant to be in this fight either"

"We can't really do much at the moment"

They suddenly heard a noise and they looked up to see a police helicopter floating over the alley, shining a spotlight down on the war. Police cars also came speeding to block the alley exits as everyone began to scatter again to escape.

"There, you see, here come the good guys" Raph said as he turned to leave, "A happy ending"

"I don't know Raph" Leo said worriedly, "I don't know"

Vanessa had soon ran to a safe place away from the chaos and into an alleyway, leaning against the wall to catch her breath. Once she relaxed just a bit, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone and dialed a number. It took a few rings before someone picked it up.

_"Report"_ the female voice on the other line said.

"It's what I had fear Karai" Vanessa said, "With the Shredder gone, factions are fighting for territory, innocent people are in harm's way and the Foot soldiers are a disgrace, the city is at war and even I cannot stop it"

_"You do not go in this alone, you cannot bear the burden alone; it is time to bring order to the chaos, my way"_

"Yes, sister"

When Vanessa hung up, she felt a sharp pain in her head again; every time she called Karai her sister, she would get a headache and she had this feeling like she should be remembering something, but she brushed it off every time.

Leo was in the lair sitting on the couch watching TV, he flipped through all the channels and every one of them were talking about the city war and how innocent bystanders were getting hurt because of it. He soon had enough of it and turned the TV off, sighing depressingly before standing up.

He walked over and saw a target, he drew his swords and done a few flips like he had done with the billboard and stabbed his sword into the target, but it was a bit off from the bulls-eye again. Leo groaned in anger as he drew his sword and was a bit surprised when he saw Splinter standing across from him.

"You are troubled my son?" Splinter asked.

"I... I'm confused master Splinter" Leo started, "I guess I hoped things would change when we finally got rid of the Shredder, you know, for the better; but it seems that everything just got worse"

"Are you out of your green gourd?" Raph questioned as he ran towards Leo, "We did the city a favor"

"Did we? Did we really? Raph, don't you see what's going on up there? The city's at war, don't you feel just a little bit responsible"

"No, it's not our deal!"

"It is! Even if we didn't mean to make things worse, we did. Don't ask me to explain how, but it feels like our fault"

"I kind of know what he means" Mikey spoke.

"Nobody asked you Mikey!" Raph exclaimed as he pushed Mikey back.

"Leonardo" Splinter spoke, "If one shoulders the weight of the world, all one will accomplish is to be crushed under the worlds weight"

"I don't understand sensei, we set out to do something good, it turned out bad, but the truth is we started it; how can we just walk away?"

Splinter sighed a little, "I do not wish to discuss this Leonardo, you must listen to me and let this go, it is too dangerous for you to get involved in this war going on up there; for now, you must do nothing"

"I'm sorry master, but I can't do nothing!" Leo said and began to walk off, "I can't!"

"Leonardo!" Splinter called out, but was ignored, "Leonardo!" Leo looked back for a second before walking out of the room.

"Dude" Mikey sighed and walked off.

"What a bonehead" Raph groaned and walked off too.

"One big happy family" Donnie sighed while Splinter sighed and shook his head.

Leo was up on top of a water tower, think about the whole situation, "I don't get what master Splinter's thinking on this one; do nothing? Innocent people are getting hurt, cause of us, because of me"

"It's not all your fault" a familiar voice spoke out, startling Leo. Leo had looked around before he looked down to see Viola standing below.

"Oh, hey Viola" Leo greeted and jumped down to her, "What're you doing out so late?"

"We're alike, you and I" Viola said, "We're both feeling burden about the city war"

"Master Splinter says I shouldn't be involved because I was baring the weight of the world" Leo started.

"And that all one will accomplish is being crushed under the world weight" Viola finished, surprising Leo and she looked away from him, "My aunt had told me the same thing when... when I thought I had lost Vanessa"

Leo sighed, "I just wish I knew what the shell I was going to do"

"May if we're lucky, it'll find us"

Leo let out a small puff of laughter, but stopped when he noticed something, "Well, I guess we're gonna find out"

Viola looked to where Leo's attention was at and saw the Foot soldiers jumping across the roof tops across from them. The two had soon followed the Foot soldiers towards the warehouses on the bay, they watched as the Foot soldiers approached a warehouse, where an Elite came out through the double doors and they closed the door and placed a bar through the handles.

"A Foot Elite?" Leo questioned, "What were they doing in there?"

"By the bar on the door, someone must be in there" Viola said, "And they're leaving them for dead"

"Must be something big then"

Leo and Viola jumped across to the warehouse where the Foot Elite came out of and waited until they knew that the Foot were gone. Leo drew his swords and broke the glass of the skylight and both teens jumped down and saw that there were mobsters lying unconscious. But then their attention came to a ticking bomb that was down to a minute.

"How low can the Foot get?" Viola exasperated.

"Pretty low by the look of things" Leo said, "Come on, we got to get these goons out of here"

Leo and Viola then started to pick up the mobsters and then Leo ran to a trash shoot and tossed one of the mobsters down and Viola reluctantly tossed another one down as well. They were quick with the job and they ran towards the bomb, which was now down to forty seconds.

"Ok, here is goes" Leo said as he drew his sword and placed it in the bomb to open it up, "Easy"

They were a bit shocked to see so many wires built into the bomb.

"Have you ever even disarmed a bomb in your life?" Viola questioned nervously.

"Donnie does this kind of stuff all the time" Leo said as he reached for a wire, "How hard can dismantling a bomb really be?"

Leo grabbed a wire and was bit hesitant before he tore it out, but the bomb kept ticking and it was nearly down to ten. But then the bomb suddenly shut down and Leo and Viola sighed in relief.

"See, no sweat" Leo said.

"Actually, for you a lot of sweat" Viola corrected.

They suddenly heard a noise and they saw that the bomb started up again and they made a run for it.

"This day just keeps getting better and better!" Leo exclaimed.

"I can almost imagine!" Viola said back as they jumped over some crates.

The bomb then exploded and it sent the two teens flying out through the window and into the river. Leo and Viola were about to swim to the surface, but stopped short when they saw the Foot soldiers run across from them; then when they were gone, they resurfaced.

In the lair, Phoebe had decided to make a visit and when she was crossing the living room, she noticed that Mikey was doing something, so she snuck up behind him to see him playing some kind of game.

"This town ain't big enough for all of us" Mikey said as he played with a robot toy, placing it in front of a bobble head toy that looked like a ninja and a duck; then rolled a pair of dice and picked up the bobble head ninja, "I am Foot ninja, you cannot stand against me! Muahahaha!"

"What're you doing!" Phoebe shouted, scaring Mikey.

"Geez, don't sneak up on a ninja like that" Mikey said as he tried to catch his breath from the sudden scare.

"So what are you doing?" Phoebe asked again.

"I'm figuring out what's going with the gangs courtesy of table top gaming; see, this guy's the Foot" Mikey explained as he flicked the head of the bobble toy ninja, "They used to own the whole map, but with the Shredder gone, the others had started to grab for territory; near as I can guess from the news reports, the Purple Dragons have made a power play" Mikey grabbed the duck toy and hit it against the bobble head ninja, "and grabbed a bunch of territory; the Foot Ninja are losing territory to mobsters" Mikey grabbed the robot toy and hit it against the bobble head toy as well, "and the Purple Dragons" Mikey began to hit the bobble head ninja with both toys, "It's chaos"

"That's an informative and concise way of explaining the whole city war, but I don't think you should be playing it as a game, people are getting hurt, people I know, people that I live close to" Phoebe said.

"I know Phoebs, but Splinter says to stay out of it and we can't do much about it right now; but the real question is, what're the mobsters gonna do now that they're in third place?"

"I really don't want to find out"

Leo and Viola continued to follow the Foot with now two Elites in the group until they watched them jump down through a giant hole in a seemingly abandoned warehouse and they saw a bunch of other Foot ninjas training.

"So" Leo spoke, "This is what happened to the Foot since we got rid of the Shredder?"

"By the looks of it" Viola said, "How the mighty have fallen"

Leo then drew his swords, "I guess it's just us against them"

"Leo, no!" Viola objected, "I'm not going in there and neither are you! What do you think this will accomplish? Just because you're taking out one group of bad men doesn't decrease the odds of the war ending"

"What other choice is there?" Leo said and was about to jump in, but then someone grabbed him and pulled him and pulled him bad. When he got free of them, he saw that it was only his brothers.

"Geez, anybody think he weren't happy to see us" Mikey said.

"What're you guys doing here?" Leo asked.

"Making sure you, or Viola, don't get into something you can't get out of on your own" Donnie said.

"We're like the cavalry" Mikey joked, "Without the horses"

Raph groaned as he kneeled down at the edge of the roof, "We shouldn't be here Leo, this ain't are war"

"Whether or not if it's our war, it's our responsibility" Viola spoke, "I've been taught my whole life that a life is a life, good or bad, and that we must protect when we can, people everyday are getting hurt even if it's not their fight either, we can't just abandoned them in their time of need"

Before Raph could say anything, they saw the Foot come out through the roof door and jumped out from behind, surrounding them.

"Uh, looks like it's our war now" Mikey said gravely.

Everyone was still for a bit before the Foot attacked first; the turtles and Viola easily defended themselves against the Foot. But then when Mikey was standing near the edge of the hole in the ceiling after he had knocked down another Foot, three more had jumped at him and kicked him down below.

"Mikey! No!" Raph shouted as he held off two Foot ninjas. He kicked them down and ran at the three Foot ninjas that had knocked Mikey down and tackled them below. Raph stood and walked over to help Mikey up.

"I'm ok" Mikey reassured, "I'm ok"

"You better be bro" Raph said as he stared at the Foot surrounding them once again, "You ain't alone"

"No you're not!" Raph and Mikey looked up to see Viola jump down and she grabbed a wire hanging from the ceiling. The wire had broke and she swung down, knocking a few Foot ninjas down before landing in front of the two turtles and picked up a discarded sword.

"Nice timing Jane" Raph joked.

"Jane?" Viola asked confusingly.

"I'll tell you about it later"

"Mikey and Raph went down inside" Leo said as he stood back to back with Donnie, "We better stick together!" Leo and Donnie had soon taken down enough of the Foot to run and jump down through the hole into the building to assist the others.

"Heads up!" Donnie called out.

Leo and Donnie landed in front of the three and knocked down the Foot that they were fighting and regrouped for a second before jumping back into the fight. But as they were fighting, more and more of them showed up and they were closing in and cornering the five.

"Wait a minute" Donnie said after he knocked down another Foot, "A bo staff and a crowd of guys who all look the same; time to try out one of my favorite movie stunts" Donnie jammed his staff into the ground as more Foot ninjas surrounded his and he had tried to spin around on the staff, but he didn't hit any of the Foot and he had spun until he hit the ground.

"Well, that didn't work" Donnie ground.

"You need a refresher course on reality Donnie" Raph said as he jumped in.

"Nothing wrong with having a little fun!" Viola shouted as she stood atop a pile of rubble with a kusari-gama in hand.

She jumped down, swung the chain end and it wrapped around Donnie's bo staff and she swung around knocking the Foot down. When she knocked them all down, she flipped in the air before landing next to the staff perfectly, flipping her unconsciously before she turned her attention to the two turtles, whose jaws had dropped at her action.

"You trying to catch flies?" Viola teased as she grabbed Donnie's staff, pulled it out of the ground and tossed it back to Donnie.

They soon went back into the fight, but this time, the turtles were having a hard time knocking the Foot down and now they were the ones who were getting a beating. They were all soon backed up into each other, surrounded once more.

"I don't want to complain" Mikey panted as he tried to catch his breath, "But there seems to be an awful lot of these dudes"

"Uh, guys" Viola spoke, but there was something in her tone that didn't sound good, "I'm getting a really bad feeling"

"We're all getting a bad feeling" Donnie said.

"No, not with them; I'm sensing that there's a lot more at stake now"

Suddenly, they heard a loud explosion and they looked over to see that someone blasted through the wall and everyone had to scatter to avoid the flying rubble. When they were in a safe place, they looked to see some kind of giant bug-like machine crawl through the hole and it started to fire at everything and everyone.

Leo peeked behind the pile of rubble he was hiding behind and saw that the machine had a searching light and realized that it fired whenever the light found someone. He thought of it as the bulls-eye from the billboard and the shield and took a moment to gather his thoughts before he charge at the android, dodging the shots it fired. When he made it to the machine, he jumped and twirled around behind he stabbed his swords into the search light.

Leo jumped back at it started to fidget and spark, but then they all had to scatter again when the machine began to fire randomly. As the machine continued to spiral out of control, more explosions were shot out around the building.

The vibrations of the bombs made the ceiling began to crumble and the turtles and Viola continued to jump out of the way. Leo was using his swords to dodge some of the rubble before he felt someone grab his wrist and he looked to see Raph pulling him.

"I hope you're happy Leo" Raph scolded, "I hope doing the _right thing_ was really worth it"

The building continued to crumble and fall apart before it finally collapsed and toppled to the ground with the turtles and Viola still inside.


	32. City at War Part 2

When the warehouse fell down and the dust cleared, it revealed that the turtles were holding a beam up to stop a huge chunk of the ceiling from falling and to protect them against the rest of the collapsing building.

"Good thinking Don" Leo praised, "Grabbing this beam really saved our shells"

"It almost makes up for big brain Leo leading us straight into-"

"Guys" Donnie interrupted Raph, "Let's continue this discussion elsewhere"

"Everybody, move on three" Leo said, "One. Two. Three!"

The turtles ran quickly and the whole building finally collapsed when the turtles jumped away from it and they watched as the Foot ran away.

"Ok" Donnie started, "What was the deal with that kamikaze robot?"

"Looks like there's a new player in the mix" Mikey said.

"Great" Raph groaned, "Just what this town needs; if having them drop a building on our heads don't convince you we should stay out of this, I don't know what will!"

"Since when did you run from a fight?" Leo questioned.

"First: I ain't running; second: it wasn't our fight to begin with!"

"Yeah! Well guess what?! It's our fight now hot head!"

"Who you calling hot head? I ain't the one who dragged us into this mess!"

"Uh guys!" Donnie called out when he noticed something about the building rubble and saw a claw pop out from the debris.

"Oh right, you're the level headed one who only fights for honor when it's convenient!" Leo shouted.

"Guys!" Mikey called out.

"You saying I got no-" Raph stopped short when he saw Leo looking at something else and turned his attention to what he was looking at, "What the?"

Soon that machine popped out from the wreckage and started to shoot at everyone again. The turtles jumped out of the way when the battle robot fired at them and Leo tried to jump and kick it, but it barely did anything to it and he tried to slice at it with his swords before Raph jumped in and tried the same thing, then Mikey jumped in on the fight.

The machine turned and knocked Mikey down, then Donnie jumped and kicked at it before a Foot tried to hit it with his sword, but the machine caught him and Donnie saved him. Soon the turtles realized that they were fighting alongside the Foot rather than against them like usual.

"Fighting side by side with the Foot?" Raph questioned, "Now you know this has got to be wrong"

"Once the robot is defeated, we will destroy you all!" the Foot Elite shouted as he jumped on the machine.

"Now that's the Foot we know and loathe!" Donnie yelled as he struggled to get his staff out of the robots grip.

As the two teams continued to work together against the machine, a bus suddenly drove around the corner towards them and the robot fired at it several times before it stopped and the people aboard ran out. Leo ran towards the bus when he heard someone cry out for help.

"Leo!" Raph called out, "What do you think you're doing?"

"There're innocent people in there!" Leo exclaimed, "We got to get them out!"

Leo boarded the bus and sliced at some of the bars that were in his way before he made it to the man that was trapped under a heavy metal piece and helped lifted the thing off of him.

"What-what are you?" the man questioned.

"A figment of your imagination" Leo said as he helped the man up, "You hit your head pretty hard, now some on, let's get you out of here"

Leo got the man off the bus and got him safely out of the battle field. The turtles had decided to take shelter for a while to rest and when they jumped behind a large wall that was still intact, they were surprised to see Viola there.

"Viola, where've you been?" Raph asked as he kneeled down to her.

"When the building was collapsing, I managed to jump to a clear area, but then a large piece of rubble fell on my leg and I think it broke my leg" Viola explained as she grabbed her left leg. Donnie rushed over to her and slowly removed her boot to reveal her bruised and swollen leg.

"This looks really bad" Donnie said gravely.

"Oh really Don, cause I thought it looked just peachy!" Raph yelled.

"I'm getting really sick of your hot headedness!" Viola exclaimed, causing all the turtles to flinch, "I could deal with it just fine in the past, but this time is different, there's innocent lives at stake here! It is our fault for what's happening now, we got rid of the Shredder and it started this war, so it's our job to finish it; I don't care whether or not you join the fight, but I don't ever want to hear you say that you don't care about what happens to people!"

Raph was taken aback by her outburst, he's heard it a couple times before, but this one was much more intense.

"Guys" Donnie spoke, breaking the tension, "I think I see how we can stop this robot; I just need to get to those down power lines"

"Forget it" Raph said and ran off towards the bus, "I know how to stop tin butt"

"Raph wait!" Leo called out, "Listen to me!"

"Listening to you what's got us into this mess in the first place" Raph said and started up the bus.

Raph drove the bus right towards the machine, but it had turned around and began to fire at him; it had shot at the bus and it hit the corner end of it and gas started to leak out, then when it fired again, it caused the bus to flip upside down. The bus skidded until it crashed into a building.

"No!" Donnie yelled.

"Raph!" Leo called out and jumped over the wall. Leo ran to the wreckage and used his sword to pry open the doors, "Raph, you alright bro?"

"Yeah, I think so" Raph said as he was still hanging upside down from the chair.

"Well you don't deserve to be, that hot head move nearly got your shell waxed!"

"Oh, so it's ok when your mistakes blow up in our faces! Look at what happened to Viola, you nearly got her killed!"

"Getting involved in this gang war was not a mistake and she was thinking the same thing I was"

"Right, this was a noble, heroic effort, thank you Leonardo, the streets are so much safer now cause of you"

"Leo, Raph, get out of the bus now!" Donnie called out as he watched the fire the machine had caused trail up the spilled gas towards the bus.

Leo drew one of his swords and used it to separate the chair from the floor, causing Raph to fall hard. The two turtles managed to run from the bus just as it was engulfed in flames and exploded, causing the two to fall to the ground.

"Whatever you do, don't say I owe you one" Raph said.

"Mikey!" Donnie called out as he held the two broken power lines near a damaged fire hydrant, "Heard the robot this way!"

"Heard him?" Mikey said as he stood between two of the Elites and had Viola hanging over his shoulder, "You got it! Hang on Vi"

"Not like I have a choice" Viola groaned a bit as she moved a bit, feeling very uncomfortable with her stomach pressing against Mikey's shell.

Mikey began to run at the robot, easily dodging the blasts and the Elites also helped out, getting the machine to back up until it was in the water. Once the machine was in the water, Donnie placed the power lines in the water and it electrocuted the machine, causing it to finally crash.

"Nice work guys" Mikey praised the Foot, but the victory didn't last long.

"Destroy the turtles and girl!" the Elite commanded and Mikey backed up.

"Yesh, some guys just can't take a compliment" Mikey said, then a lot more Foot ninjas appeared, "A lot of guys can't take a compliment!"

"Just run Mikey!" Viola shouted.

Mikey ran into an alley and ran over to a trashcan to grab the lid, "Captain America, eat your heart out!" Mikey threw the lid and it hit a couple of the Foot.

"That's the same thing I did with the mob" Viola told.

Mikey then flipped up onto the fire escape and looked down as more of the Foot showed up and when they made a run for the ladder, Mikey pulled it up and then threw it down to hit a Foot in the head. Mikey laughed and began to run up the fire escape to try and get away from them; Raph and Leo were standing right across from them, watching as their brother and friend run away.

"Mikey and Viola need help!" Raph exclaimed.

They suddenly heard more blasting noise and they turned to see two more of those robots coming their way, firing at them. As the others continued to dodge the fire blasts from the robots, Mikey was running along the roof tops and away from the Foot.

"I don't think this is good for my stomach!" Viola groaned in pain.

"Just hang on a little more!" Mikey reassured.

Mikey then grabbed an antenna as he continued to run and he threw it at the the Foot, but it only knocked one of them down and the rest continued to pursue them. Mikey stood at the ledge of the building before jumping down; when the Foot jumped down as well, they saw that the alley was empty.

The Foot searched everywhere for the two, but didn't find them, but then one of them pushed open and door and thought that they ran in there, so they followed in. Once they were gone, Mikey pushed a sheet he was hiding under on a clothes line out of the way as he had Viola in his arms now.

"King size bedding, a ninjas best friend" Mikey joked, and he looked at Viola, "Are you ok?"

"Think about the last hour" Viola groaned as she rubbed her sore stomach.

Within the 2nd Time Around shop, Casey and Phoebe were over helping April move some things around to prepare the shop to reopen.

"Hey, you really fixed this place up" Casey said as he walked over with a tray of dishes in one hand.

"Yeah, it's almost like it never exploded" Phoebe said as she hung up some clothes.

"Please be careful with that Casey" April said as she was about to reach for the tray.

"What, don't you trust me?" Casey teased as he held the tray above his head.

"About as far as I can throw you" April said and stood up on a stool to grab the tray.

"I'm game if you are babe"

"You're so charming Casey" Phoebe said sarcastically.

"In your delusional dreams" April turned to place the tray somewhere else when Mikey jumped in out of nowhere, scaring her and made her drop the tray.

"Hey April" Mikey greeted casually, like he didn't see her drop and shatter the dishes.

"Why do you always do that?" April questioned upsettingly, but then she noticed the shape Viola was in, "Oh my god, what happened?"

"Running from a bunch of Foot ninjas" Mikey answered, "My bros, Viola and I are in this big fight and I-"

"Big fight!" Casey interrupted, "How come I wasn't invited?"

"Do you not see the condition Viola is in you big lug!" Phoebe scolded.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!" April called out very upsettingly, "Michelangelo, you're telling me you ran into my shop, my new, just fixed up after it was blown to pieces and burned to the ground by a bunch of Foot ninjas shop, because you're being chased by a bunch of Foot ninja!"

"Yeah, I was running and... and" Mikey stopped short when he realized what she had just said, "Oh man, what a bonehead, I can't believe I came in here; sorry April, I wasn't thinking"

"Well it's a good thing you didn't think" Phoebe said as she pulled up and chair, "Viola's seriously injured, she needs to go to the hospital to get that leg checked out"

Mikey settled Viola in the chair, "Yeah, I almost forgot; plus I need to get back to my bros before they get blasted into smithereens"

"Hang on Mikey" Casey called out as he stepped forward with his bag of weapons hanging on his shoulders and his signature hockey mask on top of his head, "I'm coming with you; April, mind if we borrow your wheels?"

"Absolutely I mind!" April said.

"Then Mikey and I can just stay here"

April made a face before she reached into her pocket to pull out her keys and tossed them to Casey, "It's on the street"

"Thank you"

"Phoebe" Viola spoke as she turned her attention to her, "Tag along with them"

"What?" Phoebe asked in surprise, "Are you sure?"

"It's too dangerous for Phoebe to come along" Mikey said, "There're Foot ninjas and giant robots!"

"I've been training Phoebe with the art of ninjutsu for the past few months" Viola told.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she says I have a strong, willful spirit and that I have potential and enthusiasm, and I've been training real hard, I'm almost at the same level at you and your brothers" Phoebe said.

"But you're wearing heels" Casey pointed out.

"Hey, if I can run in heels, I can kick ninja butt in heels; now move your butt before I nab the keys and drive myself"

The three soon headed out while April took Viola to the hospital to have her leg checked out. Back with the others, the turtles continued to dodge the fire blasts of the robots and defending themselves against the Foot as well, but they hadn't noticed that the police had came in and ran to the roof, ready to take shots at everyone and everything below.

But when they were about to fire, canisters were thrown behind them and exploded smoke from it and in the commotion, the Purple Dragons took them out. After the police were taken out, the Purple Dragons took position, armed with guns of their own and Raph was the first to notice them.

"Leo, we don't live through this, I'm holding you personally responsible!" Raph exclaimed.

The Purple Dragons began to fire at the turtles and they ran as fast as they could to dodge the blasts; then Hun used a rocket launcher he was holding and fired it. Raph saw it coming and tackled Leo and Donnie out of the way before it hit them; Hun fired again and they jumped out of the way in time.

"Guys, we're in way over our heads" Donnie said, "We have to get out of here"

They heard a honking noise and they looked too see Hun firing at a van coming their way and it stopped right in front of them; the side door opened and revealed Mikey and Phoebe inside.

"Somebody call a cab?" Mikey joked. They turtles cheered and quickly piled into the van; Casey quickly drove off as Hun fired at them again.

"Awesome road warrior moves Casey!" Mikey complemented.

"You should see me at rush hour!" Casey cheered.

"So why are you here Phoebe?" Leo asked.

"Viola asked me to tag along" Phoebe told, "And don't worry, she's been training me for months on ninjutsu, I can hold my own against the Foot"

"So what about Viola? Is she going to be ok?" Raph asked worriedly.

"Yeah, she's in April's, and the doctors at the hospital hands"

Raph was relieved to know Viola was going to be alright. The sun was barely coming up as Casey drove the van to a safer location and Leo had lead them to a secret hideout that he made in a hallowed out water tower.

"So what's with the new digs?" Casey asked.

"I couldn't risk leading anyone back to the lair, so I was staying here" Leo explained, "It should be good enough for all of us until we figure out our next move"

"Next move?" Raph questioned, "You mean like going home and forgetting all this nonsense"

"We have to do something"

"Like what? Pour more fuel in the fire? I said it before and I'll say it again, this ain't our fight!"

"You might want to sit, this could go on for a while" Mikey advised as he sat in a hammock.

"So I'm guessing this happened once before?" Phoebe asked as she sat beside of him.

"More than you think and on different subjects" Donnie answered.

"So whose fight is it?" Leo questioned, "The innocent people caught in the crossfire?"

"You can't save the whole city bro, but you can make it worse by trying!" Raph argued.

"So we should just forget bushido and our entire code of honor?"

"Where's the honor in sticking your nose where it don't belong?"

"Nobody asked you to come, nobody's forcing you to stay!"

"Back off Leo, I'm warning you!"

"Who needs you hot head?"

"Yo, say the word and I'm out of here"

"Since when did you need my permission?"

"You know what, you're right; good luck in your one turtle crusade Leo, just try not to get these other guys iced"

Just as Raph was about to leave, the floor had suddenly exploded and everyone fell out of the water tower and onto the roof; but the turtles, with Mikey holding Phoebe, landed just fine, but Casey just fell hard. Suddenly, two men just in front of them, baring the Foot clan symbol, then a woman in armor had jumped out from behind and landed in front of them, a sword in her hands.

"I believe we have a few matters to discuss" the woman spoke, "My name is Karai and I am here to restore order to the Foot"

"I got your order right here lady" Raph said as he drew his sais.

"Stand down Raph" Leo said.

"No! I'm sick of being everybody's punching bag and I'm really sick of taking orders from you!"

"I said stand down Raph!"

Raph looked at Leo for a second before he jumped at Karai, but then he was suddenly kicked down mid way. Raph looked up and saw that it was Vanessa and she had a sword in her hand, ready to strike, but then Leo jumped in to block her sword before it even hit him.

They were pushing against each other before Leo pushed back harder, knocking Vanessa back, but she flipped back on her hands and landed on her feet perfectly. Then the two ninjas charged into battle and so did the others; Donnie fought against the bald ninja, barely landing a hit on the man before he was suddenly kicked down in front of Casey.

"Let me try" Casey suggested and started to charge at the ninja, "Goongala!"

Casey threw a few hits with his bat, but the ninja easily dodged them and knocked Casey down quickly. Mikey was faced against the other ninja, trying to land a hit on him, but the ninja grabbed Mikey's nunchakus and threw him down, then Casey stepped in.

"Yo pal, you're making me mad!" Casey exclaimed as he tried to hit the ninja, but he was knocked down once again. Soon both Mikey and Casey were battling against the ninja, but it was harder than they before.

"He's got to have a weak spot" Mikey panted, then they both charged at the man, but they got knocked down again, "Or not"

With Raph, he was fighting against Vanessa, though he was reluctant to cause harm to her as she was Viola's twin sister. Phoebe was staying out of the fight for now as she didn't have a weapon and she hasn't yet trained long enough with Viola to defend against weapons.

"You've got it all wrong" Raph said as he used his sais to block the sword.

"What exactly have I gotten wrong?" Vanessa questioned as she stuck again, "That you are my masters' worn enemy? That you eliminated him? That you're allies with my clone? That you're the reason why the city is in chaos and innocent lives are at stake?" Vanessa struck each time before she jumped and kicked Raph in the face.

"Only half of that stuff is true; Viola is not your clone, she's your sister, the Shredder's been lying to you!"

"I do not believe you!" Raph and Vanessa continued to fight against one another, nearly evenly matched. Leo was fighting against Karai and their skills were evenly matched at first before Karai kicked him down.

"Here, let me" Casey said as he ran at Karai.

But as he was running, Karai through a chain to wrap around Casey's ankles and pulled at it, causing him to fall. Raph then jumped in and tried to stab Karai with his sais, but she had flipped up on top of the entrance structure; when he removed his sais, Vanessa had jumped in from behind, but Raph blocked the blow in time.

"Let's try switching opponents this time" Donnie suggested to Mikey as they stood against the two ninjas.

"Couldn't hurt" Mikey said and charged at the other ninja. But when they did switch opponents, they still had difficulty landing a blow and they were knocked down within minutes. "On second thought, maybe it could hurt" Mikey groaned.

Leo and Karai continued to fight against one another, and Leo had managed to disarm Karai of her weapon, but she had flipped back and used the chain again to wrap around one of his swords and threw it out of his hands. When she threw the chain at him again, Leo twirled his sword and chopped off part of the chain.

Then when Karai threw what was left of her chain at Leo and he ducked to avoid it, Karai jumped in and kicked him down and jumped up to kick him, but Leo had kicked her just as she closed in on him. As she laid on the ground, Leo walked over to hover over her, but Karai was faking it and gave a surprise kick to Leo, knocking him down and she jumped over and pressed a foot into his chest.

"Now, I came here to discuss a matter with you" Karai spoke as the turtles, Casey and Phoebe stood across from them as she held a blade to Leo's face, "And discuss it we shall, with or without your leader, it is your choice"


	33. City at War Part 3

"Drop your weapons!" Karai demanded. Raph stepped forward, ready to fight her, but the others were reluctant to do the same. "I said, drop your weapons" Karai repeated as she pushed the blade of the sword closer to Leo's face. Donnie, Mikey and Casey soon dropped their weapons, but Raph was still reluctant about it.

"Um Raph" Donnie called out nervously, "Didn't you hear the nice lady with the knife?"

"Don't do me any favors Raph" Leo said. Raph growled and glared at the two before he threw his sais near Leo.

"Good, perhaps now we can talk" Karai said.

"Oh, you want to talk" Donnie said a little sarcastically, "Cause I kind of got the idea that you wanted to kick our shells"

"If I had wanted to destroy you, you would not be alive to talk"

"Ok, let's talk" Leo spoke, gaining her attention, "But it's going to be difficult with your tanto at my head"

Karai pulled away from Leo and he stood back up on his feet. Raph had then quickly jumped to grab his sais and was about to attack Karai, but Leo jumped between them and blocked the blow with his swords.

"Raph, no! I gave her my word of honor!" Leo said as he held off Raph.

"You're honor?" Raph questioned and they both pulled back, "Bro, you are really getting under my shell!"

"Calm on Raph" Casey spoke as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "Let's hear what the pretty ninja lady has to say"

"As I told you, my name is Karai" Karai said as her two ninja aides stood on either end of her and Vanessa stood a couple feet away from her, gripping the hilt of her sword in irritation; then one of the ninja pulled something out of his jacket and handed it to Karai and she revealed the Foot symbol on the medallion to everyone, "And I command the Foot clan in Japan; I am here to restore order to the New York faction of the Foot"

"Because all of this is your fault!" Vanessa shouted, "For taking out the Shredder, you have left New York in ruins!"

"We in Japan had hoped all parties would destroy each other, like a snake which consumes itself, leaving the city once again under the Foots control; but we did not expect the city to be consumed in the process. If the Foot is to regain control of its New York operations, I will need your help"

"We done talking yet?" Raph questioned as he drew his sais, "Is it time to fight?"

"You are a fool!" Vanessa exclaimed, "Do you not care of what happens to the innocent lives at stake between this war?" Raph was taken aback by her words as they were almost the same as Viola's and it was in the same tone as hers as well.

"Even if we wanted to, I don't see how we can help, this war's out of control" Donnie said, "We're kind of in over our heads as it is"

"Yes, I know" Karai spoke, "But I have a plan to stop this war"

"Then why do you need us?" Leo asked.

"All plans must have their... contingencies; make your decision"

"Well" Leo said as Karai walked away, "What do you think guys?"

"I think she can swim her butt back to Japan" Raph said.

"I think she's perfect" Casey said, "Looks, brains, and she's a ninja"

"You and Raph are so in common" Phoebe said, "Both of you have the same tastes in women"

"What does she mean by contingencies?" Mikey asked.

"She means we're Plan B" Leo answered.

"There seems to be one thing missing from this equation" Donnie said, then he turned his attention to Karai, "Uh, excuse me, what's in it for us?"

"Three things; One: you can save New York from being torn apart; Two: you can free your streets of the Purple Dragons and the mob; and Three: the Foot and the Foot Elite are honored bound to slay the one who defeated their master, they shall be relentless, they will destroy you, your master and your comrades" Karai explained, "But if you help us, there will be revenge for the Shredders destruction" The turtles, Casey and Phoebe then huddled together.

"Listen" Leo spoke, "This is the chance we've been looking for, we can set things right, it may be the deal with the devil, but at least it's a devil we know; I say we play along for now"

"The turtles team up with the Foot" Donnie said skeptically, "It sounds crazy"

"I don't know Leo" Mikey spoke.

"I've heard enough!" Raph exclaimed, "There's no way I'm teaming up with little Miss Foot!"

"Raph, listen to me" Leo intervened, "We all know this thing is too big for us to fix"

"Listening to you is what got us into this mess in the first place!"

"We have to take this opportunity!"

"Oh, it that the honorable thing to do? You guys can be the Foots little toes if you want, but not me, I'm out of here!" Raph began to walk away from the others, "You coming Case?"

Casey didn't speak for a few seconds, "You know Raph, I was always taught that no matter what, you fix your mistakes; I'm staying"

"Whatever" Raph growled and soon left.

"Well?" Karai questioned as she stepped towards the group.

"We accept your offer of alliance" Leo said as he bowed to her.

"But no funny stuff" Mikey said.

"We never had much reason to trust the Foot before" Donnie added.

"The Foot has never had to ask for aide before" Karai said as she bowed to them, "Now let us begin, we haven't much time, listen closely"

After Karai had finished explaining her plans to the group, they had set out to prepare the plan. The turtles, Casey, Phoebe and Vanessa were left alone in the Foots ruined headquarters while Karai was out gathering the Foot and the Purple Dragons.

Vanessa was leaning against a pillar, swirling a knife in her hand as a sign that she would attack if threatened; the turtles and Casey kept their distance as they knew they had no hope of trying to convince Vanessa who she truly is, but Phoebe wasn't as afraid as she should be and walked over to her.

"So" Phoebe spoke, gaining the girls attention, but she didn't soften her expression, "How long have you been training with the Foot?"

Vanessa was a bit hesitant about answering and she turned away from Phoebe, "For about six years"

"So were you born into the Foot?"

Vanessa seemed to tense a bit at that question, "I would not know"

"Why would you say that?"

"...I do not have much memory from when I was eight"

"But don't you ever ask about that or have you had any luck remembering?"

"As hard as I try, my mind won't let me remember of my life before, and the Shredder has never explained to me about what had happened and I dared not to ask him once again and my sister said that she could not explain either"

"Your sister?"

"Karai; I have grown up with her for years and I have grown to love her as one and she has grown to love me as well; but what about you, you do not seem to be fit to be a ninja with your attire"

"You'd be surprised at what you can do in heels once you learn to run in them, I can even do a spinning back kick"

Vanessa then actually laughed a little for the first time and Phoebe saw all the similarities between the two sisters, "That is quiet impressive, I must say, and from what I can see, you have a strong, willful spirit and the potential and, certainly the enthusiasm to evolve into a prospective ninja"

Phoebe was a bit surprise by her words as they were the same as what Viola had said, but she smiled soon after as she thought that they were defiantly still alike even if Vanessa had lost her memories. They heard a noise and they looked to see 'Shredder' run into the room and he stopped in front of everyone.

"So?" Donnie asked as he stepped forward.

"They have all taken my bait and are following me here, they shall arrive within minutes; they are in-" 'Shredder' took off the helmet to reveal Karai, "For a surprise"

"Nice voice-synth technology, you sound just like the Shredder"

"Hearing the Shredder's voice gives me the shivers" Mikey said.

"I don't understand how you could serve someone as evil and dishonorable as the Shredder" Leo said.

Karai looked a little surprised as first, "You knew the Shredder only as a merciless enemy, but I knew another side of him; it was he who discovered me many years ago in Japan, after my parents had abandoned me. He took me into his home, he allowed me to train alongside him, and thus I learned the art of ninjutsu. I respected him, and he trusted me; to me, he was Oroku Saki, he was more than just my master, he became my father. It was his destiny to find me, as was Vanessa's; it became our duty to serve him, as it became your fate to slay him, thus we are all servants of fate"

"I'm not so sure; master Splinter says we are free to decide our own paths, that our lives are dictated by our choices"

"They are here mistress" one of her aides informed.

"Looks like your plan is working" Donnie said.

"So far, but one must always plan for the unexpected" Karai said.

"That's why we're here" Leo said.

"Yes; now conceal yourselves and let us see what fate awaits us"

The turtles and Casey ran off to hide while Karai placed her helmet back on and one of her aides handed her the sword he was holding.

"Prepare yourselves" Karai spoke in Shredder's voice. But instead of the Foot or the Purple Dragons, the mob had came in, armed heavily with weapons.

"Steady boys" the mob's leader said as they came closer to the four.

They then looked behind and saw that the Purple Dragons had came in through the other door and then the Foot ninjas had jumped in through the window while the Foot Elite used smoke bombs to appear.

"Leo, this plan kind of stinks" Mikey spoke as they all stood above the high beams, "What're we suppose to do again?"

"Well, if Karai's plan works, nothing" Donnie said.

"She'll get the Foot and Hun to wipe out the mob, and then she'll get the Foot and the Dragons to stand down, the war will be over" Leo explained.

"That sounds good" Mikey said, "And if her plan doesn't work?"

"Then, it's us against all of them"

"Like I said, this plan kind of stinks"

"Well we don't really have much options for this situation" Phoebe said.

"This war is at an end" Karai spoke, "I have returned to resume control over the city"

"Master Shredder, we thought you were destroyed" one of the Elites spoke and they bowed their heads, "We serve you always"

"Master, I remain your servant" Hun said, "As will the Purple Dragons"

"Good, I command you to rid me of this pestilent" Karai ordered.

"Yo, wait a minute!" a Purple Dragon with the tattoo on his face called out, "This ain't right, we want to take over Shredders turf, not get it back for him!"

"Traitor!" Hun exclaimed, "You dare"

"Shredder!" the mobsters leader called out, "We have a saying in our family, but you'll never live to hear it"

The mobsters had then opened fire on everyone and they were defending themselves against them; the Purple Dragons then fired back at the mob while the Foot ninjas and Elites protected Karai, her aides and Vanessa.

The turtles, Casey and Phoebe had to jump to different beams to avoid the flying missiles and bullets; Hun even seemed to turn on his own team as he fired a missile at the one with the dragon tattoo on his face. But he soon had a launcher of his own and they both fired at the same time, both missiles colliding into one another, causing a massive explosion that knocked everyone down.

"Looks like her plan is going to work after all" Leo said.

"Hey, I almost forgot Shredder" the mob leader spoke and pulled out a device and pressed the red button on top, "Here's a present from your old friend Baxter Stockman!" The mob threw the bomb at Karai while they ran and when it exploded, it caused her to fall hard enough to knock her helmet off to reveal herself to everyone.

"To impersonate our master is sacrilege" the Elite said, "You dishonor him!"

"You are the one who has brought shame to our master by dirty dealing with the mobsters!" Vanessa accused.

"Looks like it's time for Plan B" Leo said.

The turtles, Casey and Phoebe had soon jumped down, Phoebe armed with one of Casey's weapons, and began to fight against the Foot. Phoebe fought against the Foot that didn't have sharp weapons and the Elite and was holding herself just fine and she was surprised when Vanessa jumped in to block a blow from a Foot that jumped from behind.

They looked at each other before Vanessa smiled a little and they continued their fight together. While Karai's aides tried to fight against the Foot Elite, Karai was surrounded by the Foot soldiers and was defeating them easily. But after a while in the battle, Casey was captured in a net and the turtles, Karai, Vanessa and Phoebe were now surrounded by the Foot.

"Ok, we're outnumbered, outweaponed and surrounded; what do we do now?" Mikey questioned.

"We make peace with ourselves and prepare our bodies for destruction" Karai told.

"Funny how you didn't mention that part of the plan earlier"

"Mistress, you must leave immediately" Karai's aide told her.

"No!" Karai objected, "I will stay here and see this through"

"And I will be by your side to aide you" Vanessa said.

"The Shredder may have raised you Karai, but your nothing like him" Leo said.

"How so?" Karai questioned.

"You understand honor" Karai smiled a little in understanding and gratitude.

"Hun, eliminate them all!" an Elite commanded, "And we will not forget your help when the Elite controls New York City"

"That's the first thing I've heard since this stupid war began that makes sense" Hun said and aimed the launcher at the group.

But just as he was about to fire, something was thrown at the launcher and it caused it to short-circuit and he threw it away just as it exploded. Within the smoke, the Foot soldiers were being taken out one by one and someone was stepping out from the smoke. The group prepared themselves for whoever it was, but they relaxed as they saw that it was Raph.

"Hey guys!" Raph greeted, "Miss me?" They turtles looked over and saw that the Elite charging at them.

"I thought you were sitting this one out?" Leo said as they charged at the Elite.

"I calmed down, thought about it and realized I was being an idiot" Raph told as he defended against an Elite and knocked him down.

"You did that all by yourself?" Mikey asked as he knocked down an Elite as well.

"Well, I kind of had a little help" Splinter had then jumped out from the smoke and knocked down some of the Foot soldiers.

"My son, I was worried we would be too late" Splinter said as he blocked and knocked down another soldier.

"Nah" Donnie said and hit a few soldiers, "We had everything under control"

"No we didn't" Phoebe said and she kicked a Foot soldier.

"Ok, kind of"

"Turtles, let us finish this!" Karai called out as she fought an Elite.

Donnie and Raph jumped in to help her fight the Elite, then Mikey jumped in Donnie's place and fought the Elite with Raph, knocking him into a pillar, ending the battle.

"Do you not know this seal?" Karai questioned the Elite as she held up the medallion.

The Elite stood up, "Yes, it is the Shredder's seal, the seal of the Foot"

"Then you are honored bound to obey me for I represent the Shredder"

"...We will not-"

Karai glared at the Elite, raised her sword in the air and brought it down; the turtles and Phoebe cringed at first, but then noticed that Karai had only sliced his hat in half perfectly. Suddenly, Hun had ripped out a broken pillar from the floor and attacked Karai, knocking her down twice before he stood over her.

"I will never serve you!" Hun exclaimed.

When Hun was about to strike a final blow, he felt a tap on his back and he turned to see Vanessa standing there and she jumped and kicked him in the face, then she jumped off his shoulder to land behind him and kicked him in the back with enough force to knock him down.

Then when she had jumped to into the air and was bringing her foot down, Hun threw the pillar at her, knocking her towards the window; but before she was thrown through the window, she was caught and she looked up to see that Raph had caught her. He had smiled down at her, but then she threw his elbow in his face and stood up.

"Don't say I owe you one" Vanessa said, but then she turned to face him, "But don't say I'm not grateful for it"

Vanessa and Raph smirked at each other as they knew they were thinking the same thing and they both charged at Hun and kicked him back towards the hole in the window, then Karai jumped in and made the final blow and knocked Hun out the window.

"Swear loyalty to me!" Karai demanded as she held her sword at the Elite, "Swear it!"

"I... I swear mistress" the Elite said and the other Elites and remaining Foot soldiers kneeled down.

"What's happening? What'd I miss?" Casey questioned as he got out of the net.

"The turtles kicked butt, as usual" Phoebe informed.

"Thank you" Karai said as she approached Leo, "I am in your debt; I shall keep my promise, the vendetta is lifted, the Foot will not take revenge for the slaying of their master"

"You are honorable Karai" Leo praised, "I know you will keep your word"

"You stood with me to the last, all of you have great strength and courage; I hope in the future when our paths cross, we will not be enemies"

"Only fate can tell"

"Regrettably, fate is not the only master we must serve" Karai, her aides and Vanessa soon walked over to the hole in the window, but they turned and bowed to them before they left.

"Master Splinter" Leo spoke, "I'm sorry, I just had to do something and I-"

"It is alright my son" Splinter interrupted, "Sometimes you must follow your heart, even if others tell you not too"

"Thank you master"

Within a secret building, Karai's aides walked into the room where Karai and Vanessa were sitting at a table and they kneeled in front of them.

"All is ready mistress" one of the aides informed, "We are fully operational"

"Excellent; you may leave us now" Karai said.

Once the ninjas had left the room, Karai had pressed a button on the table and a door had slide open from behind them and they walked into the secret room where Oroku Saki's robot body laid on a table.

"All precede as planned, master" Karai said as she bowed in front of a tank where the Utrom Shredder floated in, hooking with wires and worms crawled over his face.

"Good, my body is prepared, and the biocytes have almost finished healing my flesh; soon, I will be myself again, soon, we will destroy the turtles!"

As the Utrom Shredder laughed menacingly at his plan, Vanessa, who was standing at the entrance of the room, turned her back to the two, reached into her shirt to pull out a necklace of a silver medallion with a henna design water lily on the front.

She didn't care about the pain coursing through her head and gripped it in her hands and held it to her heart, wondering what was so important about it that she'd kept it a secret from the Utrom Shredder and even Karai, protecting it as her heart told her to.


	34. Chapter 34

A few days have passed since the war finally ended and Phoebe was assisting Viola, who was finally getting out of the hospital with a cast on her leg, back to her apartment.

"Thanks for being here to help me back to my apartment" Viola said.

"No problem" Phoebe said, "The others will be relieved to know you're out of the hospital just fine; well, other than the cast on your leg, you'll be fine"

"Yeah, I had worse than a broken leg; but can you make sure not to tell anyone to come over now that I'm out of the hospital, I just want to relax in my quiet home for a bit"

Phoebe had a small look on her face and she looked like she tried to suppress a smile, "Well, about that"

Phoebe opened the door and the turtles, girls, Splinter, Casey and April were over and they threw some confetti in the air and cheered 'welcome home!' as the two girls stepped in and Viola tilted her head to Phoebe to give her a look.

"It wasn't me" Phoebe denied, but then Viola raised an eyebrow, "Ok, it might have been me a little, but the party idea was totally the turtles idea"

"We thought we'd give you a big welcome back party after being in the hospital" Mikey said.

"That's really sweet of you guys to welcome me back, but I just want to relax, I feel a bit drained after the fight and being in the hospital" Viola said as Phoebe lead her to the couch and settled her down.

Winter walked over to grab a throw pillow and placed it on the coffee table and then lifted Viola's leg onto it, "You got to keep your leg leveled so it won't hurt as much"

"Thank you"

"So, how's your leg?" Leo asked.

"The doctor says that there were hairline fractures in three different places, so it'll take months before my leg fully heals; but I've had way worse done to this leg, actually, this injury is the best one by far"

"Well you won't be alone in this" Sara said as she walked over to Viola with a bowl in her hand and held it out for her, "We'll be here to help you out with anything you need"

"I don't want to be a burden to you"

"You won't be because we want to help you" Phoebe said as she sat on the arm of the couch and gently slapped Viola in the head, "You gotta learn that a true friend will always be there and that they do things because they want to"

Viola sighed a little, "Yeah, I still got a lot to learn about that subject; I've never really had friends because had this twin thing with Vanessa, that I knew that I'll always have her by me and that I wouldn't always be alone, so I guess I never really needed anyone else" Viola then looked at the turtles, "Have... have you seen her?"

"Uh, yeah" Leo answered, "She was there to help us stop the war"

"She's also still a lot like you" Phoebe said, "She said the same thing as you said to me when you started training me as a ninja and when she's about to smile, the corner of her lip twitches like yours does; no matter what happened to her, she still holds you in her heart Viola"

Viola smiled before she took a deep breath and wiped her hands up her face and pulled back her hair, something she rarely does to keep herself from crying. "Thank you"

"So" Mikey spoke, "Can we sign your cast?"

Viola laughed a little, "Sure, I don't mind"

"Me first!" Winter exclaimed and took out a black marker from her pocket and rushed over to sign Viola's cast. After a few had signed the cast and Raph was writing his name, Viola had noticed a bouquet of roses in a vase on her dining table.

"Who brought those?" Viola asked.

"Oh, uh, I kind of did" Raph answered a little nervously.

Viola looked at him with a little surprise, but then smiled and blushed a bit, "Thanks Raph, they're beautiful"

"What're you talking about?" Casey questioned, "I was the one who bought them"

Viola gave Raph a look and he just smiled nervously and embarrassingly and she rolled her eyes, "Thanks Casey"

"So what do you want to do now?" April asked.

"I still feel a little worn out, I need some time to recover spiritually, so I kind of just want some alone time"

"Ok, but we're coming back in the morning" Phoebe said.

"I'll take the night shift here" Winter said.

"Please don't break into my home" Viola called out.

"Don't worry, I'll use my key" Phoebe called back.

"Your-your key?!"

Phoebe cringed a bit as she was busted and then made a run for it, "Text you later, bye!"

Viola groaned and leaned back into the couch, but then she became startled when she felt something against her cheek and she looked behind her to see that Raph had given her a kiss and she blushed a deep red as they all soon left.

Viola sighed a bit before she lifted her cast leg to look at the names written on it, laughing at a few of the small comments that were also written, but then she came across Raph's name and stared at it fondly without knowing she was. She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt a tap on her head and she looked up to see Winter holding out a red marker and she had this smirk on her face.

"Don't be shy, I won't look" Winter said, "And you can blame it on me if you want, I totally understand"

Viola blushed a deep red again as she took the marker and Winter walked into a different room. She looked at the marker with thought before she took the cap off and then she laughed to herself as she drew a heart around Raph's name.


	35. The Golden Puck

It was late in the night as the snow continued to fall gently; Casey had decided to take the turtles, with Sara and Winter tagging along, to his most favorite show, Super Slam Hockey, that was playing in Central Park and the turtles wore disguises with hockey masks so no one would see them. There were many people and they were cheering very loudly, even Sara was cheering loudly along with the crowd.

"Super Slam Hockey's got to be the best sport known to man!" Casey cheered.

"Or animals" Leo said and lifted his mask a bit, "I mean, don't you think it's kind of rough?"

"Yeah, that's what makes it so great!" Raph exclaimed as he lifted his mask as well.

"You said it Raph!" Sara said excitedly, causing the turtles and Winter to look at her a bit oddly, "Hey, I grew up in Minnesota with four brothers and my mother was out of the state most of the year, so sorry if I get too excited"

"It's not that it's a bad thing to get excited" Winter spoke, "But it just feels like you have a split personality because you're a ballerina one day and then a rough and tough tomboy the next"

"Well, I completely agree with Sara" Casey said, "To me, it's the perfect evolution of a great sport" Casey and Sara high fived each other and laughed a bit.

"More importantly, the concessions are awesome!" Mikey said excitedly with a bucket of nachos. He opened the mouth part of his hockey mask and began to eat sloppily and some of the cheese had dripped onto a book that Donnie was reading.

"Hey!" Donnie complained and wiped the cheese off his book.

"Why did you bring an encyclopedia book to a hockey game?" Winter asked.

"Because I was kind of dragged into this and thought I read up about the sport; more importantly, why did you come along? I didn't think hockey was a favorite sport of yours"

"Well, not this kind of hockey game, but when Sara told me that you guys were coming along, I thought I go as well because you were going to be here" Donnie blushed underneath his mask, "Though it's not an ideal first date, it's nice just to be with you"

"Date?!" Donnie exclaimed, "This is not my ideal of a first date with you, I would have taken you to a much more civilized location… you know, if I could take you to a more civilized location"

"Like I already said Donnie, it's just nice to be with you, it doesn't have to be civilized or local, I just want to hang out and be near you" Winter lifted Donnie's mask and gave a small kiss on his cheek.

"The only thing I don't like is wearing these stupid masks" Raph complained.

"What?" Casey questioned upsettingly, "Check it out" Casey pulled his mask down to cover his face, "See, do we look cool or do we look cool?" The turtles were quiet for a bit.

"All those who think we look cool, say I" Leo said and they all disagreed.

"All those who think Casey is a complete and absolute bonehead" Raph said and they all said I, "The I's have it Case, you're a bonehead"

"Yeah, I'm the bonehead that got you guys these great seats" Casey countered, "We're so close to the Golden Puck you could almost reach out and touch it; the Golden Puck, made by... some old guy really long time ago"

"Actually, it says that the Golden Puck was hand crafted for Fredrick Henry of Prince of 17th century Holland" Donnie informed, "He played a variation of old Dutch game called Polven, which some believed to be an early version of ice hockey"

"Like I said, some old guy really long time ago"

After that, the game had soon ended and the players were skating off of the field, but then something became suspicious when a shadow began to float around the rink and everyone looked up to see planes with hang gliders attached to them.

"Check out the fancy post game show" Casey said.

"A post game show?" Raph questioned.

"Of military parahawks?" Leo said, "Heads up guys, something's not kosher here"

The planes had landed on the ice and wheels had popped out from beneath them as they discarded the gliders and they rode around on the ice. The men in them wore cowboy hats, sunglasses and bandanas wrapped around their face and they were holding some kind of weird gun. They had then began to fire lasers at the remaining players on the ice and the audience and they all scattered to leave, but Casey, the turtles and the girls had stayed behind.

They all gasped when the mysterious men began to drive their way and then some kind of device was thrown, landing right in front of them. The device exploded and everything around them collapsed and landed on them, trapping them underneath the wreckage. When the arena was completely empty, the men had stopped near the Golden Puck, which was smashed from its case and lying on the ice.

The men climbed out of the vehicle and grabbed the Golden Puck, placing it in a sack before climbing back into their vehicles and driving away. The rubble from the wreckage began to move and Casey had climbed out from the debris and looked to see that the others were still underneath the ruins.

"Guys?" Casey called out as he began to dig, "Guys!" Casey had soon dug out Leo, Sara and Raph and Mikey, Donnie and Winter climbed out by themselves.

"I hope I didn't throw anything out" Sara groaned as she popped her back and brushed off the dust from her poncho, "You didn't have to, but thanks for blocking most of the rubble from crushing me Leo"

"It's the upside of having a hulking shell on your back" Leo said.

"Thanks for saving me" Winter said to Donnie as she shook the dust from her hair.

"Of course" Donnie said, "What happened?"

"Oh no!" Casey gasped as he walked over to the broken stand where the Golden Puck once was, "They took the Golden Puck!"

"It's just a puck Casey, nobody was hurt, that's what's important" Leo said.

"Just a puck? Just a puck! It's not just a puck, it's a symbol, that Golden Puck comes from the beginning of ice hockey and carries us forward to the future of... ice hockey! Don't you get it, it's like stealing the empire state building, or-or, or apple pie"

"Apple pie?" Winter questioned.

"They have apple pie here?" Mikey asked as he went to pick up his nacho bucket.

"I think they both lost it" Sara whispered to Winter.

"I got to stop them!" Casey exclaimed and began to run after the thieves.

"Think we should help Case?" Raph questioned.

"Getting the Golden Puck back feels more like something for the police to handle" Donnie said.

"Yeah, but Casey might get hurt" Leo said.

"Or worse, Casey might hurt somebody" Raph added.

"Where's the pie?" Mikey asked, "I distinctly heard somebody say pie"

"Don't you think of anything other than food?" Winter asked.

"Let's roll fools!" Sara exclaimed and made a run for the snowmobiles that were meant to be raffled off in a contest. She jumped and started one up and drove it off the stand and rode towards the others. "Who needs a lift?" Sara asked playfully.

"Me, me, me!" Winter called out excitedly and ran to sit behind of Sara.

"Wait a minute!" Leo called out, "It's too dangerous for you girls to come along with us"

Winter and Sara glanced at each other before they smirked, "Then catch us if you can!" Sara then drove off with both teens laughing and cheering as they rode up the ramp in the stadium and out of the rink, the turtles gawking at their actions.

"We really go for headstrong women, don't we?" Raph said and the others agreed.

Soon, the turtles hopped on the other two snowmobiles and followed after the girls. They all had passed Casey and Mikey and Leo had picked him up and continued to follow the thieves, with Donnie and Raph way ahead of them.

"Where's you learn to ride a snowmobile?" Leo called out to Sara.

"From my uncle!" Sara answered.

The group continued to follow the thieves all through the park before they had stopped in front of the subway entrance and ran down the stairs. Raph drove down the stairs to get to them as they boarded the train, but then one of them aimed their laser guns at him and shot at the snowmobile, causing it to exploded and Raph and Donnie were thrown off and the vehicle exploded. The others soon caught up, driving down the stairs as well and rushed to get to Raph and Donnie.

"Raph, Donnie, are you ok?" Leo asked. As Leo, Sara and Winter helped the boys up, Raph kept growling in irritation and anger.

"He's ok" Mikey said. They had soon heard sirens sounding from outside.

"We better make ourselves scarce" Leo said and they all began to make their leave.

Sara had noticed something on the ground, "Wait a minute!" Sara picked up an empty box of matches and everyone gathered around her, "I think one of those men dropped this"

"Alright, a clue" Winter said as she took the box and looked at the logo on it, "The Sierra Hotel, I've passed this place a few times, I know where it is"

"You girls can't come" Leo said firmly.

"Hey, I'm the one who found the clue" Sara said.

"And I'm the one who knows where the place is" Winter said.

"Besides, me and Winter are kick boxers, so we're good at fighting"

"And you can't really stop us"

The turtles groaned as they knew that they couldn't convince or stop them from joining in on the fight. They all soon headed back to the lair to gear up for the fight and Winter soon lead them to the hotel and they were on the rooftop across from the building, spying to see if they could find the thieves.

"Hey, check it out" Mikey spoke, "They got free cable movie channels"

"Let me see" Casey said as reached for Mikey's binoculars.

"Stay focus guys" Leo told.

"Got them!" Raph said, "There's our man, Mr. Matchstick himself; third floor, fifth room from the end"

The turtles, Casey and girls snuck into the hotel and hide until the thieves had left through the elevator.

"Ok, they're gone" Leo said as climbed out from the ceiling light.

"Why don't we just ice those suckers!" Casey questioned angrily.

"We have to find that Golden Puck first" Leo said and jumped down to the floor.

"Yeah Case, if they know that we're on to them, it might ruin any chance we have of finding the stolen puck" Donnie said as he pulled a device from his duffle bag, "But, since they were nice enough to go out" Donnie placed a keycard in the lock and the door opened.

"Way to go Don" Winter complimented and pushed the door open.

"I'll stand guard of the door" Sara offered.

They all walked into the room and they began to search the whole room, but they couldn't find anything.

"It's not here" Leo said.

"Those cowpokes must have stashed it someplace else" Raph said.

"We'll have to follow them" Donnie suggested, "I bet they'll lead us right to it"

As Sara continued to stand at the door, she heard the ding from the elevator along with the voices of the thieves.

"Guys! Guys!" Sara called out in a whisper, "They're coming back!"

Just as she said that, they heard the doorknob jiggle and they were alarmed. When the men opened the door, the room was empty as Raph was supporting himself from the ceiling, Leo, Donnie and Mikey were outside the window and Sara, Winter and Casey were hiding under the beds. Once the thieves were gone, they all gathered to the rooftop and they looked down to see the thieves meeting up with someone else and they noticed that the Golden Puck was in a van parked out front of the hotel.

"Time to clot these clowns and get the puck?" Casey questioned.

"We can clot the clowns later Case" Winter said and Casey whined a bit.

The turtles and girls jumped down into the street, startling everyone and Mikey, Sara and Winter jumped into the van, Raph and Leo closed the doors and jumped on top of the van and Donnie used his staff to knock the thieves down. Casey had soon jumped down, but he landed roughly onto the van and then fell into the street; Leo tossed Casey the keys to the van and he climbed in and started the vehicle up. Donnie ran, used his staff to jump over the van and climbed into the passenger seat and they drove off. But they were soon being chased after by the thieves and being shot at by the laser rifles.

"Keep that Golden Puck safe Mikey!" Casey called out as he drove roughly from side to side, "It's really old and stuff!"

"It's not the Golden Puck I'm worried about!" Mikey called back as he held onto the Golden Puck as he, Sara and Winter were being knocked from side to side in the van.

"I bet you don't even have a license!" Winter shouted as she tumbled around in the back of the van.

The van jerked as one of the cars rammed them from behind and then they were suddenly swerving out of control. Raph was knocked off, but Leo had caught his hand in time; Casey had soon managed to gain control of the van, avoiding the parked cars and buildings and continued to drive.

Raph was still dangling at the back of the van and he looked to see the car driving towards him; but before the car could ram the van again, the door beside of Raph was kicked open and he looked to see Sara standing at the doorway with a laser gun in her hand. She aimed the gun at the car and fired, though the car pulled back and moved out of the way before it was hit.

"Where did you get that?" Leo questioned.

"I took it from the cowboys room!" Sara called back.

"So, are you a part-time crook or full-time?" Raph mocked.

"I'm working my way to full-time"

"You sure know how to pick them Leo!"

"What?" Sara asked as she shot at another car.

"Nothing!" Leo intervened.

"Give me that!" Winter shouted as she ran to the doorway to stand beside of Sara.

Winter grabbed the laser gun from Sara's hands and she quickly rewired it and then when she threw it at the car that was in front of the other two, the gun exploded. The explosion caused the front car to swerve and stop, causing the other two to crash into one another and the group escaped, parking in an alley once they were far from the thieves.

"Ok, we have the Golden Puck, now let's turn it over to the authorities and call it a night" Leo suggested firmly.

"No way!" Casey objected, "Those goons are still out there, we got to catch them and teach them a lesson once and for all!"

They suddenly started to hear a static noise and voices and they looked to see that the thieves were talking over the CB radio that was in the van and they were talking about a meeting.

"I got an idea" Casey said as he grabbed the radio and used it, "Come on back, we got us the Golden Puck and we're taken it back to the Central park, so the authorities will find it right there"

Casey held the radio to Donnie for him to speak, "Uh, that's a big ten four, sounds like a great idea"

"You know" Sara spoke as she faced Winter, "I'm really angry with you for making that gun explode, I wanted to keep it as a souvenir"

"Well maybe you can get another one when we run into those goons" Winter said.

"Oh, no" Leo objected, "No, no, you girls can't come along on this one"

"Oh Leo, so naïve about women" Sara sighed mockingly as she placed a hand on Leo's shoulder, then spoke in a mocking baby voice as she pinched his cheek, "But that's what's so cute about you"

Sara then gently, but firmly slapped Leo and walked to the back of the van to climb in while his brothers and Casey snickered at Leo's humiliation. Once everyone was in the van, they drove back to the ice rink in Central Park and Casey placed the Golden Puck on the stand where it was the first time and acted casual while the others hid behind an obstacle.

"Remind me again why this was such a good idea" Donnie said.

"It wasn't a good idea, it was Casey's idea" Leo said.

"If this plan works, I'm gonna eat my shoe" Raph said.

"We don't wear shoes" Mikey said and Raph smacked him on the head.

"Ok, we're ready" Sara said as she and Winter finished tying off their ice skates.

"Where did you learn how to ice skate?" Donnie asked.

"I occasionally go to the ice rink" Winter answered.

"And my mom is also a renowned figure skater" Sara added.

They started to hear a whirring noise and they looked up to see a helicopter shining a spotlight and they landed in the middle of the ice rink between Casey and the others.

"Hand over the Golden Puck son!" a man, who they suspected to be the boss, demanded.

"You're gonna have to pry it from my cold lifeless hands!" Casey egged on.

"Alrighty then" the man said as a lot more men climbed out of the helicopter, "Boys, open season on Mr. Hero"

"Hold on! Hold on!" Casey exclaimed as the men aimed their guns at him, "There's something I want you to know, I have friends" Casey snapped his fingers, but nobody showed up and he started to get a little nervous, "I said, I have friends!" still, nobody showed up. The turtles and girls snickered a bit.

"Thinks he's sweated enough?" Leo questioned.

"You guys are wicked cool" Sara laughed.

"Hello!" Casey called out nervously, "Friends, remember"

"Now son" the boss spoke, "You're obviously plum loco, so I don't want to waste any more time on you, what I do want is that Golden Puck" The turtles and girls stood and waved off to Casey and he crossed his arms a smirked.

"And I always get what I want"

"Well I hope you want a whole heaping helping of butt whooping, cause that's what you're gonna get!" Casey exclaimed.

The turtles and girls jumped out from behind the obstacle just as the men fired at Casey, who jumped behind the stand of the Golden Puck and grabbed the trophy as well.

"Yo ,watch it with the Golden Puck, it's really old and stuff!" Casey scolded.

Leo had jumped over the helicopter and began to fight against some of the men; then Raph, who was walking along the top of the ramp behind everyone, slide on his shell towards Leo. He stabbed his sai into the ice and spun around to knock some of the men down. Donnie and Winter were working together as a team, with Winter using a hockey stick as a weapon, knocking men down as they skated around them.

Casey had soon joined in on the fight, using a bunch of hockey sticks that were lying around and knocked a lot of the men down as well and then he tossed the turtles some of the hockey sticks too. The turtles smirked and soon began to mess around with two of the men as if they were playing a game of hockey, tossing them around.

Mikey and Donnie had then grabbed one of the men, skated up a small ramp and tossed him towards the helicopter and he landed in front of Casey, who cheered as they had won the fight. He then looked over to see that the boss was trying to run away, but he came to a dead end at the larger ramp and Casey skated over to him.

"Alright bosshog, now you're gonna learn what Slam Hockey's all about" Casey said as he twirled his hockey stick.

But the boss had smirked as he held up a laser gun at Casey, but he had knocked it out of his hands.

"Now-now hold on son!" the boss pleaded, "I'm sure we can make a deal"

"Deal with this!" Casey slammed his hockey stick at the man and he slid all the way back into the hockey net and a horn had sounded out. "Super Slam Hockey!" Casey exclaimed as he and Raph high fived, "It's the best!"

The turtles, girls and Casey were hiding out in the woods as the police arrived to arrest the gang.

"Thanks guys" Casey said, "Saving the Golden Puck meant a lot to me"

"Forget about it Case" Raph said.

"But, check out the final score" Donnie spoke.

"Ninja turtles, Casey, Sara and Winter, seventeen" Leo said.

"Texas yahoos, zip" Raph added.

"Turtles, Jones and girls rule!" Casey exclaimed as they grabbed each other's hands and cheered.

"I never did get any pie" Mikey said, "Where was that stinking pie anyway"

"Mikey, you goofball" Sara laughed as she put Mikey in a headlock and rubbed her knuckles against his head.

"So this was a pretty fun date" Winter said to Donnie as she stood beside him and took his hand to hold.

"Are you sure you want to count this as our first date?" Donnie asked, "I mean, I didn't know it was a date, so I think I should get a do over"

"Ok, ok" Winter laughed, "Considering, and obviously, that this is your first date ever, you can have a 'do over', but a date doesn't have to be perfect, it's meant to be spent with the one you care most about"

"I know, but, you know, it's you and I want it to be perfect, not spent chasing and fighting a bunch of thieves through the whole city"

"You're the sweetest boy, or turtle, I've ever met Donnie" Winter said and gave a kiss on Donnie's cheek and they all soon went home.


	36. Chapter 36

The turtles were lounging around the lair, but Donnie was the only one who seemed a bit tense, or was really more energized, lately and he's been pacing around his lab.

"What's eating him?" Raph asked.

"I don't know" Mikey answered, then called out to his brother, "Hey Donnie, what's wrong?"

"I'm waiting for someone" Donnie answered as he continued to pace, "But she's late, where could she be?"

"Who are you waiting for?" Leo asked.

Just as he said that, they heard a noise and they looked over to see that someone was using the elevator and when the doors opened, they saw Phoebe walking out and she had her hands full of magazines.

"Hey Phoebe!" Mikey said excitedly as he rushed over to her, but she just passed right by him, "You, uh, want some help?"

"Thanks, but no!" Phoebe rejected quickly as she rushed over to Donnie, "I'm so sorry I'm late, but I had to pick up a few things"

"What'd you have to pick up?" Donnie asked as she walked into his lab and set the stack of magazines on his table.

"Just some suggestions about your plan" Phoebe said as she shifted through the magazines.

"What plan?" Leo asked.

Phoebe looked between Donnie and his brothers, "You haven't told them?"

"I... didn't have time" Donnie said vaguely and Phoebe just leaned her hand on the table and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I don't know why you're so embarrassed about it, I think it's really romantic"

"What is?" Raph asked.

"He's planning a surprise dinner date for Winter" Donnie's brothers gave a bit of a sarcastic 'aww' as he blushed a deep red, "Don't mock him, I mean you guys would do the same thing if it was with the person you like" The turtles then became a little embarrassed as they knew she was right about that.

"So why'd you bring so many magazines?" Mikey asked, changing the subject from them.

"For me and Donnie pick out what I can make for date" Phoebe said and picked up a magazine and flipped through it, "So do you want it to be like the classical romantic date where there's an appetizer before the main course and there's candles and rose petals" The others snickered at the idea, "Ok, if you boys aren't going to help, then please leave because we have a lot of planning to do and I don't need you distracting me"

"Calm down Phoebs" Raph said.

"Yeah, we're happy that he's got a date, but that doesn't mean we can't tease him about it" Mikey said.

"...I guess you're right, it's just that I'm kind of an only child, so I don't know what it's like to be teased about this kind of stuff" Phoebe said, "But enough about me, we're talking about Donnie's date preparations"

"There anything we can do to help?" Leo asked.

"You guys really want to help?"

"Yeah, just because we tease him about it, doesn't mean we don't want him to have a good first date" Raph added.

"Ok, then maybe you can help set the scenery" Phoebe said.

_Later that night_

"Phoebe, we've been searching for hours" Winter sighed tiredly as she shined her flashlight through another alleyway, "I didn't even know Sara owned a cat"

"She kind of has to hide it because her apartment doesn't allow pets and it was a stray, she couldn't just leave it by itself" Phoebe argued.

"Well it's dark and it's getting colder by the minute, maybe the cat was found by someone else"

Just as Winter said that, Phoebe's phone beeped and when she took it out and looked at the message she received, she smiled.

"Sara just texted me that her cat returned"

"Ok, let's head home before we catch pneumonia" Winter said and began to walk home.

"I'll walk with you" Phoebe offered and followed after her.

"Ok"

They walked through the streets and made it back to Winter's apartment building; when they made it to her apartment and Winter opened the door, she was completely surprised, but ecstatic when she saw what was waiting for her.

The light was out, but the room was lit with a few candles, the table in her kitchen had a red cloth over it, rose petals scattered on top and a small three candle holder with candles lit and she saw Donnie standing near the table as well. Winter let out a small puff of laughter before she turned to look at Phoebe, who had her hands behind her back and a smile on her face.

"Sara never had a cat, did she?" Winter questioned.

Phoebe shrugged her shoulders and soon left, closing the door behind her.

"So this whole cat story was a scheme, wasn't it?" Winter asked as she walked towards Donnie.

"I wanted it to be a surprise" Donnie told, then pulled out a bouquet of red tulips from behind her back.

"Tulips?" Winter said in surprise happiness and took them, "I love tulips"

"Yeah, Phoebe told me you did"

"And they're red tulips; you know that red tulips means a declaration of love?"

"Yeah, which is why I got the red"

Winter blushed a deep red and she smelled the flowers; Donnie walked over and pulled out a chair for Winter and she placed the flowers on the kitchen counter and walked over to sit down in the chair. Donnie then quickly rushed to the kitchen and brought two glasses of water to place them on the table, then he rushed back into the kitchen once more and had a small bowl filled with dip and a plate of vegetables and placed them on the table as well before sitting down in the chair across from Winter.

Winter picked up a celery stick, dipped it in the dip and tasted it, "Hummus, my favorite; how do you know all the things I like?"

"Phoebe kind of told me"

"Did anyone else have a hand in this?"

"My brothers helped me with this setting and Sara and Phoebe did the cooking; Phoebe told me to start with an appetizer while the main course is still cooking"

Winter chuckled as she blushed again, "You are so romantic Donnie; remind me to thank the others"

They two continued to eat the appetizer for a bit.

"So, where exactly did you learn to kick box?" Donnie asked.

"My aunt taught me when I was seven and she's been training me ever since, says something to living up to my potential"

"What does she mean by that?"

"I don't know, but I overheard my mom and her arguing about me training with her, it got real intense, then my mom said that I wasn't ready and that I shouldn't be aware of the situation; I didn't know what she meant by that and I confronted them about the fight, they said that I just wasn't ready to hear the story yet and to not ask me again. So I made a deal with them, if they promised to stop arguing about whatever it was they were arguing about, I wouldn't ask them about the argument"

"So you still train in kickboxing?"

"Yeah, but not as often as I used to"

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Just a seven year old brother, but other than that, I have a huge family on my parents side; he's homeschooled, so he travels with my parents all the time, which is why you don't see him here"

After that, a ding was heard in the room and Donnie stood up from his chair and walked back into the kitchen. Winter heard clattering noises for a while before Donnie came back in with plates in his hands and on his arms and he set the three plates in front of Winter before he set his plates on his side. Winter saw that it was ravioli, a salad and baked salmon.

"Wow, this looks good" Winter said as she took a napkin and set it in her lap.

"Yeah, the girls sure know how to cook" Donnie said.

They soon began to eat the dinner, making small talk about their lives, having a few laughs; they even started to talk about scientific stuff and trading a few ideas that they had. After they finished dinner and cleaned the table, the two went into the living room to sit on the couch and had ice cream for dessert and continued their conversation. But as the night progressed, Winter glanced up at the clock and saw that it was nearly midnight.

"Whoa, time sure flies fast" Winter said and she stood up, "We should call it a night, I have school in the morning"

"Ok, maybe we can do this again sometime soon" Donnie suggested as he stood up as well and they placed their bowls in the sink and they walked towards the window so Donnie could sneak out, "Are you sure you don't want me to help you with the dishes?"

"It's cool, I'll make Phoebe wash them up" Winter said and they laughed, "Thanks for tonight, it was the most romantic thing a boy has ever done for me; I'm really glad I met you Donnie, you're like the perfect boy, both smart and sweet, which I don't see all that often"

"I'm really glad I met you too, it's nice to meet someone with the same intellectual level as me; though April is pretty smart, I feel like our conversations would be more interesting"

Winter laughed a bit and they both leaned into each other and gave each other a small kiss goodnight before Donnie soon left and Winter walked back into the living room. Winter grabbed the tulips and placed them in a decorative clay jar, then she grabbed the jar, walked into her room and placed the jar on her nightstand, smiling dreamily at the flowers before she laid down in her bed and fell into a peaceful sleep after a wonderful night.

**Yay! Donnie and Winter finally had their first date! Ok, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter because, sadly, I have to say that I'm going to put this story on hold for a while and hopefully post another TMNT story and work on that one for a bit, but don't worry, I'll be back soon, just have a little patience; thank you.**


	37. Rogue in the House, Part 1

Within the Foot headquarters, Karai and Vanessa walked in and the secret door lifted up to the room where the Utrom Shredder was healing and they walked into the room and bowed to their master.

"You summoned us master?" Karai asked.

"I did" the Utrom Shredder said, "My recuperation is finally at an end, the worms have done their work; at long last, the time has arrive for my resurrection" the chamber the Utrom Shredder was in drained the water and opened up.

"As you command master" Karai said and walked over to grab the Utrom Shredder and placed him in a newly built armored body.

"And so, I stand before the world" the stomach plate of the armored body closed and it started to move, "Reborn! But, we have little time to waste, the Utroms who hunted me and their accursed human Guardians may have gone, but they will return in greater numbers, we must be ready" The Shredder walked out of the room with Karai and Vanessa followed.

"Unfortunately my lord, we are not ready" Karai informed.

"What?"

"Many of your followers were destroyed in the futile war for control over New York"

"Yes Karai" a voice called out and they looked to see Hun walk in, "But what we lack in numbers, we make up for in strength and loyalty" Hun bowed to the Shredder, "Master, it's good to see you back in action, and, if you would allow me, I would like to show you what we've been working on" Hun lead the three into a lab where many Foot scientists were working.

"First, master Shredder, I have a little welcome back present that I hope you will enjoy" Hun said as he stood beside of glass jar, "May I re-introduce you to Baxter Stockman"

Vanessa was completely disturbed by the sight of the brain that only had one eye and Karai gasped in shock.

"This is Baxter Stockman?" Shredder questioned in doubt as he stepped closer to the jar, "You've lost weight"

"Of course it's me" Baxter spoke, "Look around you, do you think this facility would have been possible without my genius? These imbeciles working for you have the technological savvy of ameba"

"And you've been very naughty Stockman, betraying me once too often; you should have quit while you were a head"

"It's strange to hear him crack a pun" Vanessa whispered to Karai.

"Go ahead and laugh Shredder" Stockman egged, "If wasn't for my knowledge regarding-" Hun turned a knob on the jar and Baxter's voice was turned down.

"One of the greatest benefits of having Baxter Stockman in this state" Hun said, "Allow me to demonstrate how the good doctor was induced to hand over so much of his information" Hun took out a small remote and when he pressed a button, Baxter was electrocuted harshly, appalling Karai and Vanessa.

"Master, where is the honor here?" Karai questioned, "This misery should be put to an end, not prolonged"

"Do not presume to question me Karai!" Shredder snapped, "Stockman is the perfect example of what happens to those who betray me; is that clear?"

The threat in his voice shook Vanessa and it caused another strange tingle in the back of her head, which has been happening a lot lately ever since her encounter with her 'clone' and getting knocked in the head after falling from the high beam, but she suppressed to let it affect her or to let it show.

"Yes master" Hun answered, "A perfect example; now, if I may show you you're new army" Hun began to lead them into a different part of the lab, "These are our latest and most deadly weapons of destruction, the Foot Mechs" They stood in front of a dark area and when the lights turned on, it showed barely finished robots.

"As you know, the Utrom exosuits posses unimaginable strength and reflexes" Hun continued, "These nine Foot Mechs are an advanced android technology, based on the exosuits and upgraded with weaponry, they will be completely under your control from this command center"

"Nine?" Shredder questioned, "Why only nine?"

"Well, these Foot Mechs are constructed around an Utrom biochip that's beyond our ability to create or replicate, we were only able to recover nine such biochips from what the Utroms left behind; but nine may be all we need, nobody else on earth will have weapons like these. When finished, these two will be perfect reproductions of the president of the united state and the prime minister of England, and, I think you'll really enjoy this master"

The light turned on the end of another robotic and it revealed it to be Splinter without the fur and skin yet attached to it. The robotic Splinter moved and jumped down to stand in front of them, then they looked up to see a metal plate with a turtle drawing on it lower itself into the room.

"Watch this" Hun said, "Foot Mech, destroy!"

The robotic Splinter looked at the target before it jumped and kicked the metal plate a few times before stopping.

"It is perfect!" Shredder said as he stepped forward between the metal plate and the robotic Splinter. Hun looked at Karai and Vanessa with this smug look and they crossed their arms.

"Teachers pet" Vanessa muttered. The whole place shook a bit before a loud horn sounded out.

"We have arrived my lord" Karai spoke as she stepped to stand in front of him.

"Good" Shredder said, "Let us test these new Foot Mechs, send this one out to hunt down the turtles, find their hiding place and destroy them once and for all!"

Meanwhile, below in the sewer tunnels, the turtles were playing around on a new creation that Donnie created, the Sewer Sleds. Winter was riding with Donnie while Sara rode with Leo, Phoebe didn't come along since she didn't like the idea of riding around in the nasty sewer water and because she volunteered to take Viola to the hospital since it was finally time to get her cast off. Raph drove faster and rode upside the wall and around the ceiling, but went back to riding below when he spotted something up ahead; when he stopped, the others soon caught up.

"Hey Raph" Mikey called out, "What's with the hold up?" But Mikey then noticed what he was looking at and everyone saw that it was a Triceraton, "A Triceraton?"

"It can't be" Raph said as he stood up.

"Wait, Triceraton?" Winter asked, "As in the race of dinosaurs that you encountered on another planet in another galaxy?"

"That would be the one" Donnie answered, "And the same Triceraton that tried to destroy us"

"A Triceraton? Here?" Leo said as he jumped out of the Sewer Sled and drew his swords and the others followed soon after.

"You don't think it's an invasion, do you?" Mikey questioned.

The Triceraton groaned as he shook his head, "Enemy...sighted!" the Triceraton then charged, "Enemy engaged!"

But as the Triceraton continued to charge, he charged right past them and right at Donnie's Sewer Sled, which Winter was still on. Winter screamed in fright and jumped from the Sewer Sled, Donnie rushing to catch her and they all watched in confusion as the Triceraton attacked the Sewer Sled instead.

"Um, what's up with that?" Mikey asked as they lowered their weapons.

The Triceraton continued to smash the Sewer Sled until it was nothing but a beaten scrap heap, then the Triceraton started to hold his throat and cough as he turned and staggered to his knees.

"It's the air" Donnie said when he realized what was wrong with the Triceraton, "His breather mask is cracked, he's breathing out air and it's affecting his brain; the Triceraton home world has an atmosphere of nitrogen and sulfur, remember? Our oxygen must be making him delusional"

"Sirs!" the Triceraton called out, "Trooper Zog, serial number XT4, reporting for... duty sirs!" The others looked at each other in confusion before Leo saluted to him.

"I think he thinks we're some kind of Triceraton officers or something" Raph said.

"What should we do?" Donnie questioned.

"Anything that might keep big, horned and ugly from ripping us limb to limb!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Mikey, we should help him!" Winter scolded, "He's slowly suffering and dying; I mean, from what Viola has told me, they gave you air breathers when you were stowaways on their ship"

"Winter's right, you guys should help him" Sara said.

Leo then thought of an idea, "Uh, at ease soldier, situation report"

"Must... complete mission...sir" Zog gasped as he struggled to breathe.

"And what mission is that soldier?"

"He sure is having fun bossing him around" Sara joked.

"Must... capture fugitoid at all cost... sir, my squad was pursuing... target, when we were caught in energy beam, transported to coordinates unfamiliar to this soldier. Engaged Federation forces also tracking fugitoid, and in heat of battle, became separated from my unit, target not captured, unable to reconnect with squad, and lost weapons sir, request permission to terminate self for disgraceful failure of mission, sir"

"What?" Leo said confusingly at first, but then caught on what he was saying, "Oh, wait, no! I mean, the, uh, the fugitoid mission was a success, yes, you are to be commended for your, uh, survival skills"

Zog seemed surprised by this, "Yes, sir, thank you, sir"

"We should probably fix his mask, he's sounding much worse now" Winter suggested as she walked closer to the Triceraton, "Donnie, do you think you can find anything from the Sewer Sled to help repair Zog's mask?"

"Maybe we can rig up a temporary breather from one of the nitrogen fuel enhancer tanks on the Shell Sled" Donnie said as he looked through the salvage of the Sewer Sled.

"Hey, hold on!" Raph called out, "Are you nutso? If horn-head here gets a clear head, he might realize that we're the enemy and wipe us out!"

"But we can't turn our back on him when he needs help, that's just wrong"

"You already got Winter, why do you still think you need to impress her?"

"I'm not doing this to impress her, I'm doing it because it's the right thing" Donnie and Winter soon replaced and fixed Zog's mask with the air that he needed, once they were done, Zog took a few struggled breaths before he started to breathe right once again.

"Sir, thank you sir" Zog said. Winter and Donnie smiled at each other at what they did.

"My sons" a familiar voice called out and they looked to see an injured Splinter walking towards them, "My sons!"

"Master Splinter!" Donnie gasped in shock, "Are you ok?"

"An intruder in our lair" Splinter told and he leaned against the wall, "I was attacked, you must take me back, defend our home" Splinter started to stagger and nearly fell, but Sara had rushed to catch him in time.

"He's hurt pretty bad" Donnie said worriedly, "He's barely breathing"

"And he feels so cold" Sara added.

"What do we do?" Mikey asked.

"We're gonna do what we're told" Leo said as he helped Sara with Splinter, "We're going back to the lair and-"

"And I'm gonna kick the shell out of whoever did this to master Splinter" Raph finished angrily.

"What about him?" Mikey asked as he rushed over to Zog, "We can't just leave him here"

"Then bring him" Leo said as Sara helped load Splinter onto Leo's Sewer Sled, "Let's go"

Donnie and Winter climbed onto Donnie's sled while Sara hopped onto Raph's.

"Soldier, follow us" Mikey said.

"Yes sir" Zog said.

Mikey awkwardly climbed onto Raph's Sewer Sled and they all sped off towards the lair with Zog following behind. But when they came close to the lair, they stopped when they spotted something ahead and they were shocked to see that it was another Splinter.

"Master Splinter?" Leo questioned as he looked down at the Splinter that was with him and they all became confused about what was happening right now.

"Put him down, now" the Splinter in front of them demanded.

"What the heck is going on?" Sara questioned as she looked between the two Splinters.

"Master Splinter, what is this?" Leo questioned to the Splinter he had with him, "What's going on?"

What they didn't know was that the 'injured Splinter' was the robot that was sent by the Shredder and they were spying on them.

"Now you've done it you muscle bound thug" Baxter scolded as he floated over to Hun, "We can't have two master Splinters in the same place, you botched the whole thing"

"Back off Stockman" Hun said as he held out the remote that would electrocute him again and Baxter did, then he turned his attention to the Foot scientist, "Try to get the turtles to attack the rat, accuse him of being an imposter"

"That is what attacked me" the robotic Splinter told, "Destroy it"

"No my sons" the real Splinter said, "He is the imposter, you must believe me, put him down now"

"Say what?" Mikey said confusingly.

"The turtles will not be taken in by such an obvious ruse Hun" Shredder said, "Destroy them now, while you still have the element of surprise"

"Yes my lord" Hun said nervously, then turned to the Foot scientist, "You heard Shredder, activate the Foot Mechs lethal protocols"

The Foot scientist did what he was told; the turtles then noticed that the Splinter Leo was carrying eyes glowed red and suddenly kicked Donnie and Raph down, then he kicked Leo into the wall. Mikey then prepared his nunchakus as the robotic Splinter charged at him, but then the real Splinter jumped and kicked the fake Splinter down. The two Splinter engaged in battle while the turtles recovered from the attacks and they became confused when they saw the two Splinters fighting, struggling to figure out which one was the real Splinter.

"We've got to help him" Leo said as he drew his swords when he saw the one Splinter knock the other into the wall.

"Yeah, but which him?" Raph questioned as he drew his sais.

"Hun, I am growing impatient" Shredder said as they watched to fight go on, "Finish them, now!"

"Take it up to full force attack!" Hun ordered the Foot scientist.

The scientist did what he was told and the robotic Splinter's eyes glowed a brighter red and he tried to punch the real Splinter, but he dodged and he punched a hole in the wall, but then he jumped and kicked Splinter down hard.

"Master Splinter!" Donnie yelled out.

When the robotic Splinter ran at the turtles, they knew who to fight now, but it wasn't that easy, the Splinter they were fighting was just too fast and too strong and they were getting knocked around.

"Yo, maybe it's time to send in the reinforcements" Raph suggested to Zog.

"Huh?" Leo said confusingly, then looked back at Zog, "Soldier, engage the enemy!"

"Sir yes sir!" Zog said and rushed at the robotic Splinter, who was still attacking Mikey.

Zog jumped in and punched the robotic Splinter hard, knocking him into the wall and caused him to spark and part of his face to rip, revealing that he was the imposter. Everyone gasped in shock at what they saw and the fake Splinter continued to attack Zog; the Triceraton continued to attack and he grabbed the imposter and tossed him around roughly before he ripped him in half, causing the girls to scream in fright at the horrific sight of seeing Splinter being torn in half, even if it was an imposter; Zog then tried to attack again.

"Enough!" Leo called out as he rushed over to Zog to stop him, "Stand down soldier, mission accomplished"

"And mission to scar young teenage girls accomplished" Sara said in a shaky tone as she tried to look at anything other than the sight of the ravaged Splinter.

"What I want to know is where did robo Splinter come from?" Raph questioned, "And who sent it?"

"It does not matter" the real Splinter said as he stood up, "Whoever they are, I will not stand by while they use my likeness to attack my family! We must strike back immediately!"

"Splinter is going Raph rogue" Winter joked.

"Never seen him so steamed" Raph said to Leo, "I'm kind of enjoying it actually"

"Hey" Donnie said as he looked through the robotic Splinter, "A remote control module, if this Splinter was remote controlled, we can trace the signal; you guys, stay with the robot, I'll be right back, I need some equipment from my lab"

"I'll tag along" Winter said and hopped onto the Sewer Sled with Donnie and they rode off back to the lair.

After a while, Donnie came back and with the Sewer Slider.

"Voila!" Donnie said as he held up a device, "A direction finder, which seems to be pointing... that way"

"We'll take you girls home first" Leo said as he helped the girls into the Sewer Slider.

"What?" Sara questioned.

"It's too dangerous for you to come along"

"Boo!" Winter complained.

"New mission soldier!" Leo said to Zog, then turned a button to expand the back end of the Sewer Slider, "Climb on!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Zog said and jumped on.

Leo soon dropped the girls off at their homes and soon followed Donnie to where ever the robotic Splinter came from. They parked their vehicles and climbed out through the manhole and into the shipping yard where the signal apparently came from.

"This is it" Donnie said once all of them made it to a building and looked across from a freighter with a Foot symbol on it, "The signals are coming from inside that freighter"

"So then it was the Foot that siced that Splinter robot on us!" Raph said angrily.

"But Karai leads the Foot now, and she gave us her word the Foot would leave us alone" Leo said upsettingly.

"I am sorry my son" Splinter said, "But in this case, we must believe what we see"

"And I see that I'm tagging along with you guys" the turtles were surprised by the familiar voice and they looked up on top of the crates across from them to see that Viola was there and she jumped down to land in front of them, "Because if Karai is in there, then so must Vanessa"

"But you just got your cast off" Raph reminded.

"And that means getting back in the game; plus, I need the stretch after being in that cast for so long"

"Something tells me we're gonna be really, really outnumbered" Donnie said when he noticed a bunch of Foot ninjas.

"What we need is something to help us even the odds" Raph said.

Mikey backed up and motioned Zog to come out, "Boys, and girl, meet Zog, the equalizer"

Everyone soon snuck closer to the freighter and then Donnie placed a headset on and handed the others to his brothers.

"Ok, here's the plan" Leo said, "We'll recon order and see what we're up against"

"Ready for action sir!" Zog saluted a bit loudly, but he accidentally hit a couple of boxes, causing one to fall, but Leo ran to catch it in time.

"Quiet soldier; this is the recon part of the mission, we need stealth"

"Sorry sir" Zog said a little quieter, "But stealth is not one of my strong point"

"No duh" Raph said. "We obviously can't take him in there for recon"

Leo whispered to Donnie and Mikey, "Mikey, you stay here and watch Zog; Don... you stay here and watch Mikey"

"Hey!" Mikey complained.

"Be ready to move, we'll contact you as soon as we know what the Foot are up to"

Leo, Raph, Splinter and Viola soon ran towards the freighter and started to climb up the rope connected from the ship to the docks. When they made it near the deck and two Foot soldiers had walked by, Raph jumped up and grabbed one of them, then when the other Foot looked to see that his companion was gone, Leo snuck up from behind and easily knocked him out, dragging him behind some crates to hide him.

But another Foot soldier had noticed them and when he was about to rush off to warn somebody, Splinter used his staff to knock the Foot down and he and Viola jumped onto the deck of the ship.

"Looks like our way in" Leo said as he looked up at an air vent.

They then began to crawl through the air ducts of the ship and then came to a stop at another air vent and they looked down to see that there was a lab right below them and they became shocked when they saw that the Shredder was there as well.

"The Shredder?!" Viola gasped.

"Not again" Leo groaned.

"I see he still gets his suits at the hardware store" Raph mocked.

"Look, more robots" Leo pointed out.

"They are manufacturing deadly assassins" Splinter said, "They must be stopped"

"I'll say, those two look more like humans then the others" Viola pointed out, "And that one looks like the president, they're gonna try to manipulate the entire nation"

"This facility must be completely and utterly destroyed"

"Don, here's the plan" Leo spoke on his headset, "We need to blow this ship sky high; to do that, we'll have to get it out to open waters away from the city. Raph, master Splinter, Viola and I will take the bridge and get this ship moving; Mikey, you and Zog cast off the mooring lines and then meet us on the bridge; Don, can you sink it?"

_"Hey, if I can't figure out a way to take out a floating Foot lab that sitting on top of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, I might as well hang up my tool belt" _Donnie said.

Leo, Raph, Splinter and Viola had soon made it to the bridge of the ship and it was completely empty and dark.

"Sheesh, all these buttons and not one of them says on" Raph complained.

"Maybe I can be of assistance" a familiar voice called out and the lights had turned on.

The group turned around and looked in shock to see that Hun and Vanessa were there.

"Welcome aboard freaks" Hun greeted, "I'll be your cruise director for the trip and I'm happy to tell you, you'll be experiencing pain, lots and lots of pain"

Soon, the Foot Elite had broke in through the window and made their way towards the group, who drew their weapons, ready to fight.

"Um, Mikey" Leo called to, "Now would be a good time to bring in our friend, the secret weapon" but Mikey didn't answer and the Foot Elite continued to close in on them, "Mikey, come in; Mikey, come in!"

"It's seems we're on our own for the moment" Viola said worriedly.

She looked back at her sister, who continued to look at the group with disdain, but it seemed as if there was something else in her eyes.


	38. Rogue in the House, Part 2

The Foot Elites had soon attacked the turtles, Splinter and Viola, but Raph was kicked back into the panel while Leo fought against two of the Elites.

"Leo, when you promised me an ocean voyage, this wasn't what I had in mind!" Raph called out as he fought against the Elite and kicked him back.

"It looked so much nicer in the brochure!" Leo called back as he defended against the two Elites.

Splinter seemed to be handling himself just fine against the Elite attacking him, mostly dodging his attacks before he blocked the Elite's axe with his walking stick. But then he looked over and saw two Elites coming right for him and he had no way to defend against them.

Viola had then jumped in when the Elites were closing in on Splinter, grabbing one of the Elite's spear, using all the strength she could gather to lift him in the air and tossed him across the room, then used the spear to block the other Elites attack and pushed him back.

But the Elite had suddenly stood up straight, not bothering with another attack, which confused Viola before she had sensed someone coming at her from behind, using the spear to block the assailants attack and she was face to face with Vanessa.

"We got to get this puppy out to sea!" Leo called out, then used his communicator, "Donnie, what's the 411?"

_"I made it to the engine room"_ Donnie spoke, _"About to do some creative rewiring"_

Raph continued to fight against the Elite soldier for a while before he moved out behind him and kicked him into the panel; he then looked over to see Splinter still fighting against an Elite.

"Yo, baskethead! Catch!" Raph shouted as he threw his sai at the Elite.

He had easily blocked it, but when he turned back, he saw that Splinter had disappeared and he looked over at the main control panel and pushed a lever forward, then gammed his walking stick into the panel to make sure that it couldn't be reversed.

"Vanessa, please, you have to listen to me!" Viola pleaded as she continued to defend against her sisters attack, opposed to the idea of fighting her, "I'm you're identical twin sister, not a clone; why can't you remember? What has the Shredder done to you?"

"The only thing I remember was Shredder saving me from the fire when you attacked!" Vanessa shouted as she continued to fight Viola, but every time her weapon struck hers, the back of her head tingled.

Viola's eyes widen a bit, "The fire? Vanessa, Shredder was the one who-!"

The whole ship had suddenly jerked, knocking everyone down; Viola had been knocked into Vanessa and as they crashed, Vanessa's head was struck against the panel and the tingle became a horrible headache. Vanessa cried out a little as she gripped her head, trying to get the pain to stop and when she cracked open her eyes, her eyes widened in shock as she gasped.

Viola looked completely different and vaguely familiar as Vanessa saw that she had longer hair and very short bangs and a strange thought ran across her mind unconsciously: _she's always hated her short bangs._

When Viola had saw the way the Vanessa look, she gave the same look as she reached up to touch Vanessa's face.

"Nessie?" Viola said, using her old nickname when they were little.

Just when Vanessa was about to say something, Viola had sensed danger and she looked to see an Elite coming her way and she didn't have time to react and she was knocked back.

"Viola!" Raph called out as he rushed over to help her up and Leo was soon right beside of them.

_"Leo!"_ Mikey called out, _"We're in trouble!"_

_ "Guys, there's a problem!" _Donnie called out, _"As in a major ninja problem!" _

The three gasped when Hun stepped forward and he had Splinter wrapped up in chains.

"Tell me about it" Leo groaned.

"Hun, if you harm one hair on master Splinter's body, you're gonna wish you were never born!" Raph threatened.

"That's big talk for such a puny reptile" Hun said, "Now put down you're weapons before the rat gets exterminated!"

"No, do not give up your weapons" Splinter told.

"Master Splinter… I'm sorry" Leo said and he and Raph dropped their weapons.

Viola glared harshly at Hun as she tossed her spear towards him and it stuck into the ground right in front of him as a threat.

"Good kids" Hun said.

"We'll see who's a good kid when Splinter's out of your reach" Viola threatened.

Vanessa began to back out of the room undetected, completely confused about what had just happened to her and what she had just saw, wondering what was happening to her as her head continued to ache. The turtles, Viola and Splinter were on their knees, all tied up, waiting for someone to come in.

"Where's your sister?" Raph whispered to Viola.

"She must have snuck out" Viola whispered back, "And I think I figured out why she can't remember me; I don't think the Shredder has brainwashed her or anything, she must have somehow gotten amnesia after she pushed me out of the building and the Shredder is using that to his advantage"

"You two, stop talking!" Hun ordered.

"Bite me meathead!" Viola snapped at, "That is if you can after I get free and smash your teeth in!"

"You're really rubbing off on her Raph" Leo teased.

"I can be a pretty good influence" Raph joked.

They heard a noise and they looked over to see Karai walk in, closing the door behind her and turning the wheel on the door to lock it.

"Hey Leo, it's your buddy" Raph mocked.

"Not now Raph" Viola lightly scolded.

When Karai stepped closer to the group, she was a bit surprised to see Viola there as she almost thought it was Vanessa sitting there; it raised a few questions, but she ignored them as there was more important matter.

"Leonardo, I…" Karai spoke, sounding hesitant as she spoke, "I wish you had never come to this place, now it has fallen upon me to slay you all"

"So much for your word of honor" Leo said in a disappointed tone.

"I… I am sorry, but I must follow my master's orders" Karai said and drew one of her swords.

"Face it bro, she's as bad as the Shredder" Raph said.

"I should have known better than to trust you Karai" Leo said.

Karai raised her sword in the air and the two stared intensely at each other; Viola had noticed that Karai's hands were shaking lightly and was hesitant about dealing the final blow to Leo.

"Wait!" Hun called out and stepped over behind of Leo with his swords in hand, cutting Leo free from his restraints, "Let's make this a little more interesting" Hun then stepped back and tossed Leo's swords to him, "Now, show us what you got swordboy" Leo jumped up and caught his weapons, "Take her out and I just might let the rat go free" Karai had drew her other sword and the two prepared to fight.

"I can't let you do the Shredder's dirty work without a fight Karai" Leo said.

"I am honored bound to serve him" Karai defended.

The two circled before Leo attacked first and the two were evenly matched, though Karai had tripped Leo, he landed on his feet and the two were pushing their swords against one another.

"If you serve the Shredder, then you have no honor!" Leo said.

"You are wrong!" Karai said as she pushed Leo back.

"I was taught honor, bushido means everything to a true warrior!"

When Karai came at Leo, he blocked the attack and he gave a hard kick at her, knocking her back onto the ground.

"I was raised to live by that code; can you do that?" Leo twirled his swords before he placed them back in their sheaths, "Can you live with honor? Show me, here's your chance"

Karai stood to her feet, grabbed one of her swords with both of her hands and charged at Leo, who didn't move a muscle to test Karai's loyalty to honor. When Karai raised her sword, everyone gasped as it came down, but it stopped just a hairline close to Leo's head; Karai pulled her sword back and it fell to the floor and Hun laughed as he clapped his hands.

"So the Shredder's little pet doesn't have the guts to do her job" Hun mocked and stepped forward, "Move over girly, watch how things get done New York style" Hun cornered and loomed over Leo, "Trust me, this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it hurts me"

Just when Hun was about to strike Leo, everyone had heard a loud pounding noise at the door and when they looked over, they saw the door break down and Zog charged in, striking Hun down with one blow.

"There's no need to fear, Michelangelo's here!" Mikey cried out as he ran in and kicked down two of the Elites as they came at him.

"Mikey!" Leo called out in relief, then he looked over and saw Donnie jumped in through the broken window and take down another Elite, "Don!"

When the Elite next to Splinter was about to strike him, Viola jumped up, looping her arms out from underneath her and then grabbed the trident, pushing it back to hit the Elite in the stomach with end before giving a kick to his face, knocking him down. Leo jumped over and freed Raph, Splinter and Viola from the restraints.

"Alright!" Raph cheered, then reached over to grab his sais, "For a minute, I thought I was gonna have to sit this one out!"

Raph threw his sais and they pinned an Elite into the wall, then Donnie came in and struck him in the stomach. Splinter had then knocked down another Elite and everyone looked over to see Zog take out an Elite before Hun came in.

"First a bunch of turtles, now a big ugly dinosaur?" Hun questions, "It's a freak show!"

Zog charged at Hun, striking him in the chest with his head, but Hun didn't go down so easily and attacked Zog; the two seemed evenly matched at first, but then Hun kicked Zog down. Hun then walked over and ripped a large pipe out with his bare hands and threw it at Zog, knocking him down hard. Hun loomed over Zog, laughing at him, then Zog had reached up and lifted Hun in the air, then he threw him through the door outside and he fell into the bay.

"You did good Zog" Viola said.

Leo looked over at Karai and she lowered her weapons and looked ashamed.

"I have failed my master" Karai said regrettably.

"It is alright" Splinter said as he stepped in front of her, "You could not do your duty because it went against your honor" Karai looked up and Leo smiled reassuringly.

"Guys" Donnie called out as he looked at a watch he was wearing, "We've got about five minutes before this ship buys a one way ticket to the bottom of the ocean!"

"Time to go!" Mikey exclaimed, "Zog, we're moving out!"

"Come on Karai" Viola said as she placed a hand on Karai's shoulder.

"I shall find my own way out" Karai said.

Viola gave a single nod before rushed to catch up with the others; as the group was running around the corner, they had stopped as they looked to see that the Shredder and the Foot Mech were standing right across from them.

"Well, well, well, quiet a menagerie" Shredder said, "A rat, four turtles and a Triceraton, if I'm not mistaken"

"Shredder!" Leo exclaimed, "I guess we should have known we'd meet again!"

"Yes, but I think this will be the last time" Shredder motioned a Foot Mech forward and it blasted at Raph, causing him to fly in the air and smash into the wall.

Viola had rushed to aid him while the others charged at Shredder and the Foot Mechs; a Foot Mech had stood across from Raph and Viola and shot at them, but they jumped out of the way in time. The turtles battled the Foot Mechs and it was difficult to attack them and even harder to defend against them as they were too fast and too strong. Splinter and Shredder were faced off against each other.

"How many times must we do this rat?" Shredder questioned irritably.

Shredder tried to sweep kick Splinter, but her easily jumped out of the way, then when he swiped at Splinter with his gauntlet, he only gazed his shoulder. Zog was fighting against the two nearly human Foot Mechs and smashed his fist through the Foot Mech's chest before tearing it in half, but the upper half of its body was still active. Shredder jumped and kicked Splinter back, but then Splinter reached behind him to pick up the coiled rope and tried to wrap the Shredder up, but he easily broke through it. Mikey was facing off against a headless Foot Mech.

"Hello?" Mikey called out as he waved his hand in front of the headless Foot Mech, "Is there anybody there? Hey, I'm talking to you!"

When Mikey tried to hit the Foot Mech with his nunchaku, he was electrocuted; Mikey began to back up and as the Foot Mech followed him towards the railing of the ship, Mikey reached up to grab the hook above him and he swung around to try and knock the Foot Mech into the ocean, but it had grabbed onto Mikey's ankles and electrocuted him again.

Mikey couldn't knock the Foot Mech off of his and the shocks were getting worse; suddenly, the Foot Mech's arms were sliced off by a flying object and it fell into the bay. Mikey looked up to see Vanessa catch her tessen with one hand and they had looked at each other in silence before Vanessa held out her hand to him; Mikey smiled up at her and took her hand.

As Zog continued to fight against the human Foot Mech, the one he had torn in half grabbed his leg and exploded, knocking him down momentarily before charging at the other Foot Mech head on, smashing it into pieces. Raph was charging at the Foot Mech firing at him and jumped at it and grabbed at the cannon on its arm; the Foot Mech continued to fire and Mikey and Vanessa had to duck out of the way to avoid the blasts. They looked over and saw that the shots were getting closer to a bunch of explosive barrels near them.

"Raph, watch out!" Mikey called out.

Raph looked over and saw that the shots were close to the barrels, but it was too late and another shot was fired right at them and caused a huge explosion on the top deck. The explosion had caused the floor to collapse underneath them and they had fallen down into the laboratory below and a fire broke out in there as well. But as they fell, Vanessa had hit her head against a beam and fell lifelessly to the floor and Viola had fell right across from her.

"Vanessa!" Viola cried out and rushed over to her.

Viola turned Vanessa onto her back and tried to support her head, but she felt something wet and when she pulled her hand away, she gasped when she saw that her hand was coated with blood. Vanessa's eyes fluttered open and when she looked up at Viola, she looked the same as she did when she had bumped her head in the control room and the whole scene seemed to change.

The place was still on fire, but it looked more like a building then a freighter; she tilted her head to the side and the Shredder came into view and she had a mixture of emotions at the sight of him, mainly them being of anger. Viola looked to where Vanessa was looking and saw that Shredder was about to stomp on Splinter and this unimaginable anger welled up inside her that she's been suppressing for so long.

"SHREDDER!" Viola screamed and charged at him.

Shredder turned around and saw Viola running at him and he didn't have time to react; Viola jumped in the air and gave a hard kick to Shredder's chest, sending him half way across the room.

"I have had enough of you!" Viola exclaimed as she ran and punched the Shredder, easily avoiding his attacks, "Hurting my family! Hurting my friends! Hurting everyone I love!" As Viola continued to attack Shredder, she was backing him up towards the hole in the floor that was filled with flames, "And I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone every again!"

Viola ran and gave a swift hard kick to Shredder's chest and knocked him into the inferno below; Viola looked down, panting to catch her breath before she collapsed to her knees, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders.

"Guys!" Donnie called out after he lifted the heavy beam that fell on him when they fell down below off of him, "We've got two and a half minutes before this place is about a thousand feet underwater!"

"You small brained terrapin" a familiar voice called out and Donnie looked to see the state Baxter was in, "Look what you've done to my lab!"

"Stockman? Is that you?" Donnie stepped to stand in front of the jar tank he was in, "Man, you've really let yourself go"

Donnie jumped a bit when Baxter slammed his brain against the glass. Leo, Raph and Mikey were still fighting against the Foot Mechs and Leo had sliced the one his was fighting in half. Raph was avoiding being shot at, but Mikey had been caught by a claw that the Foot Mech shot out of at him; as Raph was circling with the Foot Mech, Zog had attacked from behind and rammed his fist through the Foot Mech's chest and tore it in half.

"Nice timing soldier!" Raph complimented.

"Mission: destroy Federation stronghold at all costs" Zog said.

"I like the way you think, let's do it!"

Mikey continued to be pulled in by the Foot Mech and its stomach plate had opened up and saw blades had come out. Mikey struggled against the claw on his shoulder, but it was too strong; he then used his nunchakus to pry off the claw and it caused the Foot Mech to stumble back into the fire below.

"That'll teach you to keep your claws to yourself!" Mikey mocked.

Viola had placed Vanessa on her shoulder and rushed over to the others as they gathered together.

"Oh no!" Donnie gasped as he looked at his watch, "We've got less than a minute to get out of here!"

"Here, let me carry her" Raph offered.

Viola placed Vanessa in Raph's arms and they all began to make a run for it, but they didn't get far as the Shredder jumped out from the inferno and landed in front of them.

"This is the end!" Shredder said, "You will never get off this ship alive!"

"And neither will you, because if we're going down, I'm taking you with us!" Viola exclaimed and was about to attack, but Zog placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"This Federation worm is mine!" Zog exclaimed and charged at Shredder.

Shredder charged as well and their fight began, but Shredder struck Zog hard, causing him to back us; Zog then grabbed a broken beam and used it to smack Shredder down, then when he was flat on his back, Zog struck him again. Shredder seemed down and out as he just laid there lifelessly, so Zog turned his back to him.

"Victory!" Zog cheered. The turtles and Viola gasped.

"Zog, no!" Mikey exclaimed as they watched the Shredder rise again. Shredder raised his gauntlet in the air and struck Zog in the back and he fell to the ground.

"Triceraton fool!" Shredder said, "All who oppose me are fated to parish! You mutant scum should know that better than anyone!"

"My family has opposed you for a thousand years and we're still standing on our feet!" Viola exclaimed.

"Which is why I had tried to take your family out while you and your sister were merely infants!" Viola's eyes widened, "After I have slayed your parents, you were to be next, but then those vile Guardians interfered and taken you to Japan, hiding you away so that I would not find you"

Viola's fist clenched so hard that her knuckles turned white and her nails were cutting into her palm, "You… you monster!"

"I have tolerated you all for far too long!"

Just when Shredder was about to attack, Zog was standing once again and he grabbed Shredder from behind and the turtles cheered.

"Sirs" Zog spoke, "Tell them Zog fought bravely" Zog then began to walk towards the ledge to the fiery inferno, "For his comrades, for the republic"

"Zog, no!" Viola called out.

"For victory!" Zog then fell into the fire below.

"We have to save him!" Raph shouted as he was about to go after him, but Donnie held him back.

"It's too late" Donnie said, "He's gone"

"My sons" Splinter spoke as he stood in front of everyone, "He has given us our lives, we must not dishonor his brave sacrifice"

The whole ship then began to quake.

"Come on!" Leo exclaimed, "Let's go!"

As the ceiling began to crumble, the turtles, Splinter and Viola made a run for it onto the main deck.

"It's gonna blow any second!" Donnie shouted.

Everyone ran towards the railing of the ship and jumped into the water and the freighter exploded and began to sink; everyone soon resurfaced to watch the freighter go down into the ocean. Everyone was soon on the docks, looking over the ocean.

"You know, it was a real honor having Zog as one of us" Leo said, "He was a great warrior"

Viola was sitting on the ground with Vanessa's head in her lap and she was gently running her hand over her head.

"Vanessa" Viola whispered, "You have to wake up now, you're safe now" Vanessa continued to lay lifelessly and Viola's eyes began to overflow with tears, "Please Vanessa, I've lost you once, I don't want to lose you again"

Viola lowered herself to lay her head on top of Vanessa's and started to quietly cry; the turtles and Splinter were standing over her, feeling sorrow for her loss once again. As Viola continued to cry, she suddenly felt a grip on her elbow and when she lifted her head, she watched as Vanessa's eyes fluttered open and they soon made eye contact. Nobody spoke as they didn't know if Vanessa still had amnesia and thought she was on the Shredder's side or if she had her memories restored to her.

Vanessa then reached up and lightly gripped onto Viola's long side bangs and gave a small half smile, "I've always hated you short bangs too, you looked like a dork" Viola gave a laughing cry, relieved to know she finally has her sister back as were the turtles and Splinter.


	39. Chapter 39

Viola and Vanessa were soon back at Viola's apartment where they cleaned themselves up after their battle; Viola had patched up Vanessa's head wound and they were soon in the living room, sitting on the couch with a cup of tea.

"You have no idea what kind of empty loneliness I've endure since I thought you were dead" Viola spoke and took a sip of her tea.

"I think I can" Vanessa said, "I've also felt this empty loneliness in my heart, but I just couldn't figure out why" Vanessa reached up and took out her silver medallion from beneath her shirt, "The only thing I've had that was of my past for the last six years was this"

Viola's eyes widen slightly and she reached up to pull out her silver medallion; Vanessa was surprised to see that she had the same medallion and her head ached a bit as another memory came back.

"O-our aunt Haruko gave us these when we were five" Vanessa said.

"Yeah, she said that it was once hers and our mothers; though they were not of blood, they still treated each other as sisters" Viola said.

Vanessa sighed a bit as she gripped her medallion and took another sip of her tea.

"So what was with those Utroms?" Vanessa asked, "I remember them giving me a strange look when they looked at me"

"You will not believe it Vanessa, it turns out that our ancestor, Varuna, was the first ever Guardian of the Utroms, and so was our grandfather" Viola told and Vanessa's eyes widen.

"You're kidding; so we've been the Shredder's enemy since the Utroms first arrived? Geez, talk about a bitter grudge"

"Yeah, he was gonna use my own sister to kill me" Viola then thought of something and set her tea down on the table, then grabbed Vanessa's hand, "Follow me, I want to show you something"

Vanessa placed her tea cup down and Viola lead Vanessa into her room and they stopped to stand in front of a stand that had Varuna's sword set on it.

"This was once Varuna's sword" Viola told, "Mr. Mortu bestowed it onto me as a gift"

Vanessa took the sword of the stand and unsheathed it to look at the blade, "It's so beautiful" Vanessa then placed the sword back in its sheath and back on the stand, "So tell me more about those turtles and the rat"

"It's a pretty long story, but I'll shorten it: they're our allies and our friends, they act like any normal teenage boy and are great ninja warriors and Splinter is a great ninjutsu master" Viola told, "I've been on many journeys with them and my friends"

"I'm surprised you have the capability to make friends" Vanessa teased and they both laughed as Viola playfully pushed her.

"I've missed you" Vanessa said.

"I've missed you too"

The two sisters hugged each other lovingly before going back into the living room and had spent the rest of the night talking about what has happened all their time apart and of Viola's journeys with the turtles by Vanessa's request.

_The Next Day_

Everyone was at the airport with Viola and Vanessa, ready to see them off as they set off to return to Japan.

"How long will you girls be gone?" April asked.

"I don't know" Viola answered, "It's been six years since me and my aunt last saw Vanessa and it's been months since I kept to myself about Vanessa's return, I feel like I've been keeping her to myself when my aunt has also missed her, so we might be gone for some time"

"But you promise to call us every day?" Phoebe asked.

"When I can"

The announcer called out for passengers to now board the plane as it was about to take off. Viola and Vanessa said their goodbyes to April, Casey, Splinter, the girls and the turtles; Vanessa had saw out of the corner of her eye that Viola was hugging Raph a lot longer than the others and noticed that she had her head buried in his shoulder and she couldn't help but smirk a bit. The two sisters boarded the plane and took their seats.

"Are you really dating that turtle boy?" Vanessa whispered so the other passengers wouldn't hear.

Viola looked at Vanessa in surprise as her face flushed a deep red, but then she leaned her elbow on the armrest with her head in her hand and laughed a bit.

"That's an incredibly long story" Viola said.

"It's a near fourteen hour flight to get back home, I think we have the time"

Viola looked at Vanessa and the two sisters laughed again, leaning in close to each other with their arms locked and Viola's head resting on Vanessa's shoulder and her head resting on her older sisters, wanting to be as close together as much as possible after so many years of separation.


	40. April's Artifact

The turtles, Casey and Phoebe were at April's antique shop helping her finish up cleaning as she was about ready to reopen her shop.

"I can't thank you guys enough" April said as she was hammering a nail into the wall, "If it wasn't for you, I might never been able to reopen the shop"

"Yeah, but if it wasn't for us you'd still have the first shop" Leo said as he was scrubbing the floor.

"One hundred bucks for this thing?" Mikey question as he set down a typewriter on the counter, "It doesn't even have a monitor screen"

"Mikey, that's a typewriter" Phoebe told, "People used it to type letters and such before technology has been invented"

"Oh, well, what's with the weird floppy disk?"

Phoebe laughed a bit as Mikey picked up the ink roll, "That's ink Mikey"

When Mikey held his hands out, he saw that there was some ink on his fingers and he dropped the ink roll; he then looked around and had a mischievous look on his face and was about to wipe his hands on a suit that was on a mannequin, but then Phoebe grabbed his hands.

"Don't even think about it, April just got this shop refilled and cleaned, now's not the time to turn it into a pigsty" Phoebe walked over to grab her bag and pulled out a tissue and handed it to Mikey.

"I'm telling you, it should go in the front of the store!" Raph argued with Casey as they both carried a suit of armor.

"Get your head of your shell, it'll look way better in the back!" Casey argued.

"Since when did you two acquire a taste in interior design?" Phoebe teased.

Donnie had soon finished fixing and lighting up the OPEN sign and when he stood up, his bo staff accidentally knocked into the glass chandelier, but he placed his hand on it to stop it from moving.

"Here Don, let me give you a hand with that" Leo offered.

When he stood up, his sword sheaths had knocked into a pile of bowls and plates and when he tried to stop them from falling over, his accidently stepped into the water bucket.

"That's it!" April growled in annoyance, "Weapons boys, fork them over!"

"But, what if the Foot attack?" Mikey said, "Or… the girl scouts?"

"Even against the girl scouts, you'd guys get knocked onto your shells" Phoebe teased.

"And you're speaking from experience?" April mocked a bit.

"You were in the girl scouts?" Donnie asked.

"Only during the summer since my mom would work late" Phoebe answered.

April walked over to Raph, after he and Casey set the suit of armor down in the back of the store, with the turtle's weapons in the box and he placed his sais with the others.

"You know what, you're right" Casey said, "It should go in the front"

April walked behind the counter to place the box of weapons down and then picked up a picture of her when she was younger with her parents and another man.

"At last, the O'Neil family portrait can assume it's rightful place once again" April said proudly.

"Who's the guy next to your dad?" Leo asked.

"Him?" April said as she pointed to the man with the hunting outfit, "Oh, that's my uncle Augie, August O'Neil; uncle Augie was a real character, a head for figures and a heart for adventure. He used to disappear for months on end, traveling the world, we wouldn't hear a word from him and then, suddenly, he'd just show up out of the blue with a suitcase full of trinkets and a million stories from his travels"

"Wow, that sounds like my great grandma" Phoebe said.

"You're great grandma's still alive?" Donnie asked.

"Yeah, she's got the heart of a bull, as my grandpa told me"

"Well, with uncle Augie, he just disappeared for good" April finished.

"I'm real sorry April" Phoebe said.

Everyone suddenly heard a scream and they looked over to see Raph drop the suit of armors legs to fight off a fly.

"You want a piece of me you little garbage eating maggot!" Raph shouted.

Casey was stumbling backwards by the weight of the suit and he accidently threw the suit into a cabinet full of dishware; Raph continued to chase the fly until it finally flew out of the shop and Raph slammed the door shut.

"I hate bugs!" Raph growled in distain.

"And, from the looks of it, you hate bone china teacups, porcelain figurines and depression glass too" Donnie said as everyone was gathered around to pick up the broken pieces.

"You two, away from the breakables, garbage detail, now!" April ordered angrily.

"Yes ma'am" Raph said.

"Sorry ma'am" Casey apologized.

Phoebe then snorted a bit, "I so wish I caught Raph spazzing out over a little fly, Viola would have loved it; maybe Raph and Case should help the Purple Dragons, they'd cause more damage to them then fighting against them"

"Hey, the day I help a good-for-nothing Purple Dragon is the day pigs fly" Casey argued as he picked up a box full of trash.

"What is this stuff?" Raph asked as he stood in the doorway.

"Just a bunch of junk that got damaged in the fire" April answered.

"Whoa, this still looks good" Raph said as he shifted through the box and pulled out a weird looking puzzle cube.

April walked over to get a look at what he was holding and she looked surprised to see what it was.

"I don't believe it!" April gasped and took the puzzle from his hands and then started to clean it.

"What is it?" Leo asked as the turtles and Phoebe gathered around.

"It's a puzzle cube that used to belong to my uncle; I can't imagine how it survived the fire"

The puzzle cube had suddenly began to move on its own and it glowed as it opened up; everyone were in shock before they got sucked into the puzzle cube. The next thing they knew, they were falling out of the sky and they all landed in a large bush in a strange place.

"Where are we?" April questioned as she looked up to see floating rocks in the air.

"Sure don't look like midtown" Raph said as he stood up.

"Or anywhere on earth for that matter" Leo said.

Phoebe tried to climb out of the bush, but her foot had accidently got caught and she was hanging upside.

"I got you" Mikey said and untangled Phoebe's foot and helped her onto her feet.

"Thanks Mikey" Phoebe said.

"No problem"

"Here, let me help you out" Raph offered as he pulled at a vine that was wrapped around April's legs.

"No, really, I'm fine Raph" April protested and was pulled out of the bush, but the vines were still wrapped around her legs and Raph kept pulling, "I can do it-" The vine broke and it tore April's pants, "Myself!"

April tore off her shredded pant legs and continued to glare at Raph; meanwhile, Mikey, Donnie and Phoebe were walking further into the world they were transported to.

"So, you think some Utrom clown hit the wrong switch on his transmat?" Mikey asked.

"No, this felt different?" Donnie answered.

"How did this feel different?" Phoebe questioned.

"The last time, we were being taken apart molecule by molecule"

"Well I can tell you how it felt different, I feel like I've been stretched out"

"Well, I think the transmat was more of a whoosh, this was more like a shift; if I had to guess, I'd say uncle Augie's puzzle cube acts as some kind of dimensional gate way"

"I got the heady science of whoosh vs shift, but after that, you lost me" Mikey said.

"The theory goes something like this: we're all made up of atoms and atoms are mostly made of empty space, so you could theoretically have parallel universes all occupying the same space by vibrating at different frequencies, a slight shift of atoms and presto, you're in a whole different dimension"

"Ok! Ok Donnie, you're making my head buzz" Mikey complained as he held his head.

"It's not just you Mikey" April spoke, "I hear it too"

"We all hear it" Leo said.

"Oh great, more bugs" Raph groaned, then he picked up a stick, "Show yourself you lousy little nat!"

"Raph, I don't think you should threaten it, because if we hear it this loud and we don't even see it, it must be a really big bug" Phoebe whimpered a bit.

"Uh, Raph, you're gonna need a bigger fly swatter" Leo said and pointed up to the sky.

"Oh crud" Raph groaned when a giant wasp came flying around the cliff.

When the giant wasp came flying at them, they tried throwing rocks at it to scare it off, but it rammed right through Raph and fly around the others before flying back towards Raph.

"Raph, look out!" April warned.

The giant wasp had snatched Raph up and Donnie grabbed onto his brothers feet to try and grab him, but they were both whisked away.

"Oh sure, you can survive without your weapons for one day" Mikey mocked, using 'April's' voice.

Phoebe punched Mikey in the shoulder, "That's not helping anybody!"

Phoebe kicked off her heels, placed them in her bag that she still had with her and started to run after the giant wasp and the others soon followed. As they continued to run through the forest, they saw Donnie fall down to the ground.

"Don!" Mikey exclaimed, "You alright bro?"

"Where's Raph?" April asked.

Donnie shakily lifted his arm and pointed up to the trees and everyone looked up to see Raph dangling from the tree right above them.

"Did I mention how much I hate bugs?" Raph groaned in annoyance.

"It's been implied" Phoebe said.

"We'll get you down bro" Leo said as he and April climbed the tree while Mikey and Phoebe went to help Donnie up, "Just hang on"

"Like I got a choice" Raph groaned.

"I spotted some kind of treehouse down the rivers aways" Donnie informed, "We should check it out; maybe someone could tell us more about where we are"

"I can tell you where we are" Phoebe said in an irritable tone, "Death row, that's where we are! Who knows what else is in this crazy extraterrestrial rain forest!"

"It's better than being out in the open where more of those wasps could attack"

"But who knows what we'll be facing on our journey there"

"Only one way to find out" Mikey said, then looked up at the others, "You guys up for it!" When Raph got free, he fell hard on his shell on the ground, "Or, down for it"

"Ok, but no more flying" Raph said as he sat up.

The turtles, April and Phoebe soon used whatever they could find to make make-shift weapons to use for defense. Phoebe was standing by April when she threw her handmade spear.

"Whoa April, remind me not to cross your path" Phoebe teased a bit.

"Thanks; I like the bow you made" April said, pointing to the bow that Phoebe made with a curved branch she found and some thread she had in her bag and some arrows she also made.

"Thanks, the girl scouts I was in taught archery as well; we're not all just about selling cookies"

Then, while the turtles and April were tearing off some large pieces of bark from trees, Phoebe tore the fabric of her spare clothes that she had in her bag and used her small sewing kit that she also had in her bag to make a sail. They soon made sailboards for each of them and sailed down the river towards the treehouse.

"Would it be too cliché to say cowabunga!" Mikey joked.

"In a word, yes" Raph said, then splashed Mikey. April then caught a small wave and did a flip in the air.

"Whoa April, where'd you get those moves?" Mikey asked.

"I don't know, something about this place just brings out the jungle girl in me" April called out.

"Race you down the river!" Phoebe called out as she sped up in front of the others, playfully splashing some of the turtles.

They watched as Phoebe sailed up ahead of them, then when some rocks came into view, she sailed around them expertly and made some sharp turn arounds, then she leaned so far back, her back nearly touched the water and she reached out to brush her fingers against the water.

"Where'd you learn to do all that?" Mikey asked when they all sped up to her.

"My mother was friends with a sailboard instructor back in California and she taught me a trick or two!" Phoebe told, then she did a small spin to splash Mikey, "There's trick number one; want to see the other one?"

"No, I'm good" Phoebe laughed and they all continued to float down the river before they soon floated to the shoreline.

"This is it guys" Donnie told and they all looked up to see a dome treehouse in the highest tree.

"Hello?" Mikey called out and his voice echoed through the jungle, "Anybody home?"

Leo looked closer to see that there were holes in the floor, "Maybe termites?"

"If they're anything like that over grown flying cockroach, I don't wanna know about it" Raph said.

"But I do!" Phoebe said excitedly and jumped onto the ladder that was hanging near Raph, swinging slightly before she began to climb it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Raph called out as Phoebe was now halfway up.

"To the moon, where else?" Phoebe said a little sarcastically, "I'm not afraid of bugs"

"Well, we see who's the tough one now" April teased and began to climb the ladder and Leo and Donnie soon followed.

"Don't be scared bro, Jungle Girl will protect you" Mikey taunted.

"Hey, I ain't scared of nothing" Raph argued, "I just hate bugs" Raph soon began to climb up the ladder.

"You mean like that one crawling up your back?" Mikey joked.

"What? Where?" Raph panicked as he reached behind him.

"Gotcha!"

Mikey then started to laugh and Raph swung the bottom of the ladder back and it hit Mikey in the face. When everybody made it to the top and walked inside, they saw that it was near empty.

"Can't say much for the décor" Mikey said, "But it's got great ventilation"

"Who do you think lives here?" Phoebe asked, "Or really, lived here?"

As everyone was looking around, April noticed something on a handmade table and gasped in shock.

"This was my uncle Augie's" April said as she picked up a beautifully crafted compass.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked and everyone gathered around.

"I recognize it anywhere" April flipped it open to reveal the picture of April's family portrait; "Look"

Raph took the compass to get a look at it, then turned it to look at the back and saw something written on it, "So you'll always find your way back to us"

"So, then that means that Augie made and lived in this treehouse" Phoebe said.

"April, look at this" Donnie said as he flipped through a journal.

"This is my uncle's handwriting" April said as she looked at the journal, "You were right Phoebe, he was here, in this dimension or whatever it is; the puzzle cube must have transported him here just like us. Day 96, my shelter's barely holding up against the attacking swarm, I fear this may be my last entry as my life is in constant jeopardy"

They suddenly heard a screeching noise and they all drew their makeshift weapons.

"We know that tune" Leo said, "Look sharp guys"

"Back off scuz ball!" Raph said as he took a chair and threw it out the window, hitting one of the wasps.

"Raph, no!" Donnie exclaimed as he pushed Raph back, "If you make them mad, they'll just fire their-" The wasps stingers soon flew at them and Donnie pushed Raph out of the way as he jumped to avoid them, "Stingers!"

The others were trying their best to avoid the stingers as well.

"Good one Raph" Mikey scolded, but he didn't hear a respond from him, "Raph?"

Everyone looked over and saw Raph sitting with his back against the wall and he didn't look all that good.

"I… hate… bugs" Raph said and tilted to the side and fell to the floor.

"Oh no, Raphie!" Mikey exclaimed.

"He's been hit" Phoebe said as she looked at the scratch on Raph's leg.

"Donnie, is he?"

"He's paralyzed" Donnie informed, "If these are anything like earth hornets, the effects should only be temporary"

They heard a growling noise and Donnie looked through the hole in the wall and saw that the wasps were coming right at them at full force.

"Look out!" Donnie exclaimed and they all jumped out to the way just as the wasp busted through the wall.

Mikey tried attacking the bug and protect Raph, then the wasp flew towards April and she tried to stab it, but the wasp grabbed the spear in its mouth and started to fly her around the room. Leo charged at the wasp and kicked it in the face, making it let go of April and the tumbled back, but landed perfectly on her feet, catching her spear.

The wasp then rammed through the wall again, then another wasp burst through the wall from the other end of the room and April and Leo tried to attack, but the wasp broke Leo's makeshift swords. Then when the wasp came at him again, Leo rolled under the table towards the two stingers and grabbed them.

"Let's see how you like a taste of your own medicine!" Leo exclaimed.

Leo charged at the wasp and ducked under it, slashing at its underside with the stingers, causing it to crash through the wall. Suddenly, the whole place started to shake violently and tilt to the side.

"Abandon treehouse!" Mikey exclaimed.

Leo rushed over to place Raph on his shoulders and everyone rushed to jump out through the hole in the wall onto the large branch. April grabbed her uncle's journal and compass before everyone soon made it safely out just as the treehouse fell and was destroyed. Leo slide down a vine and April swung down; the wasps were coming at them once again and Mikey jumped down to a small branch to swing on it and kicked a wasp back, knocking it into a tree.

Three wasps came at Donnie and he ran to jump off the tree and landed on one of the wasps, then he used his staff to knock the wasp in the head, causing it to fall; Donnie then used his staff to swing down to the ground. A wasp had Leo and Raph cornered and Leo was having a bit of a hard time fighting the giant wasp off; April had then came swinging in on a vine and knocked the wasp down and the turtles were very impressed.

"You go Jungle Girl!" Leo cheered.

"High school gymnastics" April gloated a bit.

"Where's Phoebe?" Mikey asked worriedly.

"Guys!" Everyone look up and saw that Phoebe was still stuck up in the tree, "I really don't want to be a cat stuck in a tree!"

"There's a vine right there!" Donnie called back.

Phoebe rushed across the branch to get to the vine and used it to slide down, but about halfway down, the vine had suddenly snapped and Phoebe started to fall; Mikey rushed over and managed to catch her.

"Nice catch" Phoebe said as she looked up at him.

"I am a pretty good catch" Mikey joked.

They both had smiled at each other for a bit before Phoebe blushed a bit when she noticed the look in his eyes.

"You can put me down now" Phoebe said with a small nervous laugh.

"Oh, right" Mikey said with a small blush of his own and placed Phoebe on her feet.

Phoebe then bent down to pick up the vine that had snapped and began to roll it up.

"You never know" Phoebe said as she finished rolling up the vine and then placed it in her bag.

The group had soon settled near the river next to a large tree and it was beginning to get darker.

"Ok, we need to build a fire to keep warm tonight" Phoebe said, "Mikey, Donnie, I need you two to gather some sticks and twigs, logs if you can find some; April I need you to gather some dry grass and Leo, just stay here and watch over Raph and I'll look for something to eat"

Everyone soon went out and did what they were told; when the sun was about to disappear, the others, except for Phoebe, had soon came back and built the fire.

"Good work guys" Phoebe said as she came back and she was using her shirt to carry some mushrooms and berries.

"Where'd you get those?" Donnie asked as Phoebe placed the mushrooms and berries on a large leaf she picked from a bush.

"I had to go farther than I thought to find these" Phoebe said, then she picked up two rocks and used them in one try to start the fire, impressing the turtles and April.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Leo asked.

"And how do we know these aren't poisonous?" Mikey asked as he picked up a berry.

"My great grandmother" Phoebe answered, then picked up a berry and ate it, "Believe it or not, when I was eight, I spent the last three years with my grandmother in the forests, jungle, even the desert, teaching me how to survive off the land, knowing the differences between what's poisonous and edible" Phoebe then laughed a little, "She calls me her 'little forest imp'"

"Wow, that's amazing" Mikey said.

"Yeah, she's the greatest"

Night had soon came and April was still reading her uncles journal; Raph had then walked towards the groups, groaning.

"Feeling back to your old self bro?" Leo asked.

Raph had mumbled something incoherent for a bit, "Bugs… must… pay!"

"Defiantly back to his old self" Mikey said with a small laugh.

"Guys, I found something!" April called out, "Or my uncle did anyway; there's a temple somewhere to the northeast; here, listen: day 130, I followed the river until I came upon a grey stone temple; deep within a chamber, at the center of the pyramid, was a large puzzle cube, identical in shape and form to the device that transported me to this savage realm. It may be my only way home, if I can just determine how to correctly position the cube"

"Day 145, I believe I finally cracked the secret of the puzzle cube; unfortunately, since my first journey to the pyramid, the giant hornets had begun constructing a nest on the side of the structure. The journey will be dangerous, but I must try to reach the cube; I leave behind this journal and my compass-pendant, should any other poor soul end up in this infernal place. Heaven help you, heaven help you all; that's all he wrote, the rest are just calculations"

"Looks like your uncle was trying to decipher the cubes mathematically" Donnie informed.

"We need to get to that temple" April said as she opened the compass-pendant to look at the family picture fondly, "And find out what happen to him"

"If we can piece together his notes, we might be able to program the puzzle cube to send us home"

"Then it's settled" Leo spoke, "We head out for the temple first thing in the morning"

Everyone had soon settled in for tonight as they had to have their energy for the day ahead of them. But somewhere in the middle of the night, Mikey had heard a crunch of a leaf, being a sensitive sleeper since his temporary room arrangement with Raph as he snores loudly. When he sat up to see where the noise came from, he looked to see Phoebe walking down the river; curious and worried, he followed her for a bit before she stopped at a small rock cliff and started to climb it with ease.

Mikey began to climb the rock cliff as well, but was having a bit more trouble, wondering how Phoebe could climb it with ease, even in heels. When he finally made it to the top, he looked to see a pair of familiar black heels in front of him and he looked up to see that Phoebe was standing right in front of him.

"I knew you were following me since you got up" Phoebe told and then walked towards the ledge of the cliff and sat down with her feet dangling over the ledge.

Mikey pulled himself to the top and walked over to sit beside of her, "Why're you here?"

"To get the best seat in the house"

"Huh?" Phoebe pointed up to the sky and Mikey looked up to see millions of stars scattered across the sky, "Whoa"

"Yeah, you don't get many stars in a city; this was my most favorite part of living in the wilderness; it's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I see something that's more beautiful" Mikey said as he smiled dreamily at Phoebe.

Phoebe was a bit confused as she looked at him, but then she noticed that same look in his eyes when he caught her from falling and she blushed as she laughed nervously.

"That's real sweet of you Mikey" Phoebe said nervously.

As they continued to look up at the stars, Mikey slide his hand across the rock floor until it was near Phoebe's hand and placed his hand on top of hers. Phoebe smiled nervously as her face flushed a deeper red, then she scooted a bit closer to Mikey until their shoulders were touching and laid her head on his shoulder, enjoying their time together.

Morning had soon came and everyone walked through the woods until they came across a river that April's uncle had talked about.

"You're uncles calculations seem to indicate a logarithmic correlation in an otherwise stochastic deviation" Donnie said as he looked at the journal while April tried using the compass-pendant.

"Of course!" April said excitedly, "The algorithms follow a variation of a Fibonacci sequence"

"Do you guys come with subtitles?" Mikey said confusingly.

"I wish, I may have the highest scores in my grade, but all that came out of their mouths was gibberish to me" Phoebe said.

"Guys, look!" Leo called out, pointing down the river to show the temple that April's uncle had described and saw a giants wasps nest having on the side.

"What I wouldn't give for a can of bug spray" Raph said, "A really big one"

"I think I know how we can get past them" Donnie said, tossing April the journal, then ran and jumped into the river and came back up covered in mud, "Hornets and other wasps have a strong sense of smell; we need to disguise our scent"

"Do we have to disguise them that bad?" Mikey questioned as everyone was disgusted by the stench.

April was the next to jump in before the other turtles dove in as well, though Phoebe seemed reluctant on jumping in; when April came up, she kind of did it slowly, like something from a movie or tv show.

"I think you may be taking this Jungle Girl thing a little too seriously" Leo teased, but then got a face full of mud.

"Come on Phoebe, we're all in this together" Raph said.

"I may have spent three years with no indoor plumbing, but that doesn't mean I like being dirty voluntarily" Phoebe said.

"You'd probably be the one who needs to take an extra soak" Donnie said.

"Why?"

"Because you smell like lavender" Mikey told and Phoebe blushed a bit.

"And how'd you know that?" Raph teased, causing Mikey to blush as well.

Phoebe took a deep breath before she placed her bag on the ground, and then used a hair tie to pull back her hair before jumping into the river; the group soon made their way towards the temple entrance.

"I sure hope this is worth having Mikey down wind" Donnie joked and Phoebe laughed while Mikey blushed embarrassingly.

"We're about to find out, cause here they come!" Raph called out when he saw a swarm of hornets come out.

The swarm flew around them before they began to fly away.

"They're leaving" Donnie said in relief, "Old factory principle proven"

When they walked inside the temple, they gasped in shock at the room filled with wasp pods.

"Looks like the hornets have tunneled their nests right into the temple" Donnie said.

"So, how come no one's minding the eggs?" Mikey asked.

"These aren't eggs, they're pupae, second stage development, and by the looks of them, I'd say their nearly fully formed adults"

"Weapons ready" Leo said, "Let's move out"

Mikey had twirled around his handmade nunchakus, but it accidently tore apart and one of the rocks shot at a pod and suddenly, all of them began to squirm.

"Nice going Mikey" Leo scolded.

"Hey, lay off, it was an accident" Phoebe defended.

A hornet had popped out from its pod behind of Leo and he moved away from it.

"Everybody, move!" Leo ordered.

All the hornets had soon broke free from their pods and was swarming around the room, chasing the group.

"They're gaining on us!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Alright stinkbugs!" Raph exclaimed irritably as he drew his weapons, "This time it's personal!"

The group soon began to fight and take out the hornets, but there were so many.

"There's too many of them!" Leo shouted, "We need to find another way out of here!"

"Guys, over here!" April called out when she saw a doorway open.

Everyone ran into the next room and began to close the door, but Raph was still trying to fend them off while he backed up towards the room; when he made it inside, Donnie and April closed the door before any of the hornets could get in and they rested for a bit. They then noticed the giant puzzle cube that August had described in his journal across the room.

"There it is" Mikey said, "Our ticket home"

Everyone had walked towards the puzzle cube and made their way up the stairs to it; April then noticed a scroll on the ground and picked it up.

"It's uncle Augie's handwriting" April gasped in surprise and relief, "So he did make it back here"

"That's odd" Donnie said as he was looking through the journal, "The settings on the cube don't match the coordinates in your uncles journal; wherever it sent him, it wasn't home"

"You're right, something must have happened while he was setting the final coordinates; but what?"

They suddenly heard a loud growling noise.

"You had to ask?" Raph questioned irritably.

They looked over and saw a very large hornet coming their way.

"It's the queen" Donnie said gravely.

"I don't care if it's Queen Latifah, you guys need to get that cube fired up!" Mikey exclaimed as he drew his nunchakus.

Mikey charged at the queen hornet while Donnie, April and Raph tried to set the coordinates of the cube so it could send them home. But during the fight, Mikey was knocked to the ground and tried to avoid the hornets claws, but he was scratched and was paralyzed; Leo jumped in to fight off the hornet as it was about to attack Mikey. As Leo continued to fight the queen, it swiped at Leo's arm, knocking the stinger out of his hands and scratching him, paralyzing him as well.

"Leo!" Raph exclaimed and jumped down to grab the two stingers and used them to fight against the queen, but it suddenly began to fly and during the battle, Raph was scratched again.

"Not… again" Raph groaned as he fell to the ground.

The queen hovered over Raph, ready to devour him; Phoebe reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of perfume and the vine she took with her and tied it into a lasso. She rushed over and began to spray the air with her perfume, getting the hornets attention with the fragrance and it began to make its way over to Phoebe. When the queen was closing in on her, she smashed the bottle on the ground and then ran up the wall, and as she was jumping over the queen, she twirled and threw her lasso vine over the queens neck and landed on her back.

"April, get the boys to the cube!" Phoebe called out, "I'll deal with the red queen!"

Phoebe tugged on the vine hard, causing it to spazz out of control and started to fly around the room to knock her off, but Phoebe held on tight, even when the queen flew upside down, she stayed on it perfectly. After April had gotten the turtles on the platform, she grabbed her spear and rushed to the middle of the room and tried to take aim on the hornet. April took a chance and threw her spear as hard as she could and it stabbed right through the queen's chest, causing it to crash to the ground and Phoebe was thrown off, but stood right back up.

Donnie pushed the cube into place and it began to glow brightly and open up, "April, Phoebe, time to go!"

Phoebe and April rushed up the stairs towards the cube, but it was taking the cube a while to fully activate and the queen had flew right back up and over to the group. Donnie, April and Phoebe squeezed their eyes shut, waiting for the blow of the queen, but the cube finally worked and it transported the group out of the temple and they landed back into April's shop. Just as they landed, Casey had came back into the shop.

"What died in here?" Casey questioned, then he looked to see the condition the group was in, "Whoa, I'm gone two seconds and suddenly everyone's covered in crud"

"It's a long story" Phoebe groaned, falling back to the ground in tiredness.

After the effects wore off of the turtles and they all had taken a nice shower, they told Casey of what had happened to them.

"So, uh, let me get this straight" Casey said as soon as they finished their story, "You defeated the giant hornet queen? All by yourself?"

"Like I said, something about that place just brought out the jungle girl in me, not that I'm in a hurry to go back there; plus, I had a little help from Phoebe on distracting it, she was a real cowgirl riding that hornet"

"My grandmother just loved danger as well, rode a wild bull and I got to do it as well" Phoebe said with a smirk.

April opened up the compass-pendant that she had wrapped around her neck and looked at it fondly before closing it and looked at the engraved writing on the back.

"So, you wanna go out for pizza tomorrow, little imp?" Mikey said.

Phoebe chuckled a little and punched Mikey in the arm, causing him to cringe a bit at the pain, but still had a smile on his face.

"Be wary of an imp Mikey" Phoebe teased and they both laughed together while Mikey's brothers looked at them with a smile, happy to see that their little brother finally got the girl of his dreams.


	41. Chapter 41

The turtles were lounging around the lair relaxing, but then they heard a noise and they looked over to see that someone was coming in through the elevator and when the door opened up, they saw that it was Phoebe as she stepped out. She then rushed across the room towards the couch, where Raph was sitting, and jumped over the back to land right beside him, startling him at first before he looked to see that she had her leg placed over the other and she was leaning her elbows on her knees with her fingers locked together and resting her chin on them, just smiling at him.

"What?" Raph asked.

"Sooo…" Phoebe said as she grinned more, showing her teeth.

"Does this sentence have an ending?"

Phoebe rolled her eyes, "Viola's coming back home tonight"

"Yeah, she told me in the last letter she sent"

"Aaannd?"

"…Again, does this sentence have an ending?"

"Are you saying that you haven't planned out a date yet?"

"D-date?" Raph said with a deep blush.

"I know that you guys haven't gone on your first date before because a lot of things were going on, but now that things have calmed down, now's your chance to ask Viola out on a date"

"O-oh, w-well I don't really know how to, you know, plan a date"

"Raph's going on a date?" Mikey asked as he came into the room, "Way to go Raph!"

"Can it Mikey!"

"That's why I'm here?" Phoebe said, "I've gotten to know Viola for a while and she's surprisingly a shy girl despite her choice of wardrobe and line of heritage, so I would suggest a movie first"

"Ooohhh, are you gonna watch a romantic comedy?" Mikey teased and laugh.

When Raph was about to hit him, Phoebe placed a hand on his shoulder, then she took out a magazine in her purse, rolled it up and slapped Mikey across the face, getting him to be quiet.

"A romantic comedy would be too much pressure for Viola, I would suggest a fantasy adventure as there's minimal romance and it would break the ice between you two; then after the movie, maybe a walk around Central Park, that way you two can catch up on talking"

"A-are you sure?" Raph asked nervously as it was his first date with anyone.

"Trust me Raph, I'm a girl, and I know what goes on in a girls mind and with me as your guide, you'll do just fine"

_Later that night_

Viola and Vanessa had soon made it back to Viola's apartment, carrying two bags in each hand.

"You're friends sure asked for a lot of souvenirs" Vanessa said as she waited for Viola to get the key out.

"This is actually a lot less than the questions they asked when they found out I was from Japan" Viola said, then unlocked the door once she got the key out.

"I still can't stop laughing at the way aunt Haruko looked when I walked into the room, she couldn't get a word out from all that crying" Vanessa chuckled as they walked into the apartment.

"It was a lot different from my reaction when I saw you again"

After Vanessa closed the door, they sighed in tiredness as they set the bags down.

"I hate jet lag" Viola groaned as she stretched out her muscles.

There was a knock at the door and Viola let out a cross between a whine and a groan.

"I love my friends, but I just want some peace and quiet" Viola whispered.

"You hide, I'll tell them you fell asleep" Vanessa offered as she went to the door.

When Vanessa opened the door, she looked surprised at first, but then she smiled and looked back at Viola, who was making her way towards her room.

"Um, it's not any of your friends Viola" Vanessa said, sounding like she was trying not to laugh.

"Then who is it?" Viola asked as she walked towards the door.

She was confused when she saw that it was a figure in a black trench coat and a black fedora hat and she couldn't see his face.

"Uh, welcome back" the figure spoke and lifted his head to reveal that it was Raph.

"Oh, uh, hey Raph" Viola greeted with a small blush, "Where are the others?"

"I, uh, came alone"

"Why?"

"To, uh, ask you" Raph pulled out a small bouquet of roses that he had hidden behind his back, "On a date"

"O-oh-oh!" Viola stuttered as she blushed a deep red and took the bouquet of roses into her hands; after that, she felt tongue tied and didn't know what to say next, so she blurted out, "You know, when the Thorn Rose Clan wanted to recruit kunoichis, they'd send out a single red rose as a summons"

"Smooth Viola" Vanessa teased as she stood in front of the door with a coat in her hands and stood behind of her sister to help her in her coat, "I'm sorry about Viola, she's just nervous; though it's not the first time she's been asked out on a date, it's just she never accepted them, so she's just nervous since this is her first official date with a boy. So be considerate to her about it as I know she will you since it's obviously your first date with a girl and don't keep her out late because she has jet lag" Vanessa then pushed Viola out of the door, "Have fun you two"

When the door closed, it left the two in an awkward silence.

"So" Viola spoke first, "I'm guessing by your attire, we're going to a public place"

"Yeah, I was thinking about a movie" Raph said.

Viola gave a small shy smile, "That sounds nice"

The two had soon went to a local movie theater and Raph picked out the movie that Phoebe recommended and they sat down in the back of the seating area. As they were watching the movie, Raph used the old yawn and stretch move to place his arm around Viola's shoulder. Viola blushed shyly before she leaned her head onto Raph's shoulder and they continued to watch the movie.

Once the movie was over and they exited the theatre, they held hands as they walked through the streets for a bit until they were now walking through Central Park. They had walked in silence as Raph thought about what questions to ask her to get to know her better, but then the silence was broke by a small snort and Raph looked to see Viola smiling.

"Sorry" Viola said with a small chuckle, "Vanessa warned me about that move"

"What move?" Raph asked a bit confused.

"Where you fake a yawn and stretched your arm around my shoulder" Raph blushed from embarrassment at being caught, "She said that it was cliché and that a real man should just place their arm around a girl instead of making a sly excuse for it; but I thought it was still sweet" Raph blushed as he smiled and they continued to walk through the park.

"You know" Viola spoke, "The first movie I ever watched was when I was 5 and Vanessa had dragged me out of the house to go watch a movie and when my aunt caught us sneaking back into the house, she made us do 24 hours of tai chi and if we broke form, she made us do it all over again"

"Whoa, that's way worse than master Splinter's punishment; when me and my bros were little and we went topside for the first time and we got caught, Splinter made us workout for 18 hours straight"

Viola laughed a little, "Our lives are fairly similar; we've both trained in the art of ninjutsu, our mentors never wanted us to set foot in the outside world and we're both associated with the Utoms and the Shredder"

"And we'll have many adventures together in the future"

"A lot of dangerous ones for that matter"

"But it's nothing we can't handle together"

They continued to walk together in silence for a while before Raph spoke again.

"So, what do you normally do for fun?"

"Hmm… well, don't tell anyone and don't laugh, but I like to bring characters from Japanese legends to life"

"What do you mean?"

"I'd ask Vanessa to play with me and we'd dress up like the characters from Japanese legends and relive the story"

"Sounds like fun"

"But it's embarrassing when my aunt tells the stories to her friends"

"It's usually a parents job to embarrass the child. So, what do you hate?"

"I don't really feel hate all that much"

"Not even the Shredder"

"No, I pity him; my clans motto is 'Never hate, but never love'"

"What does that even mean?"

"It means that we may be someone else's enemy, but we have no enemies of our own, hence, the 'never hate' part; and the 'never love' part is that we may have allies, but if they seek out our help to destroy another clan who may also be our allies, we do not help them; we're not on anyone's side, we only do what we believe is right, not what anyone else believe is right"

"You're clan must be a real legend"

"It is since it's the first kunoichi clan with a female leader made up of only women"

"So I'm guessing you don't get many men in your clan" Raph joked.

"We do, but as it is a kunoichi clan, the men are positioned as servants for a while under the leaders supervision to see that they know to respect women and treat them as equals before they are brought up to train with the others. So, what about you? What do you hate?"

Raph laughed a bit, "Everything"

"Ah, I should have known, I have known you for quite some time already"

"Yeah, but the one thing I hate the most is bugs"

"Bugs?"

"Yeah, disgusting little creatures"

"I don't mind bugs all that much, but I'm deathly afraid of spiders"

"Spiders?"

"Yeah, it's creepy the way they move their legs and their eyes and fangs" Viola shuddered, "I remember when Vanessa would catch the biggest spider she could find in a jar and show it to me just to freak me out"

"That sounds like what Mikey would do to me, which is another thing we have in common: our younger siblings annoy the shell out of us"

Viola laughed, "Yeah, but I still love her nonetheless"

"Me too"

Viola had then covered her mouth as she yawned and Raph noticed it, remembering that Vanessa said that she had jet lag.

"Maybe we should call it a night" Raph suggested.

"Yeah, I kind of nearly fell asleep during the movie"

Raph had soon walked Viola back to her apartment and they stood facing each other in front of her door. They didn't say anything, but Raph started to lean in to give a second attempt to kiss her, but when we was barely close to her, she turned her head to the side and nearly her whole face went red. Raph tried to suppress his smile as he knew it was because she was shy, as Phoebe had told him, so he just gave her a small peck on the cheek.

Viola tucked her bangs behind her ear as she looked up at him; she took a small deep breath and leaned up to give Raph a kiss on the cheek as well. They then gave each other a final hug goodbye and Viola went into her apartment as Raph went home. Viola leaned back against the door and couldn't help but let a big smile cover her face as she never felt that happy before.

"The date must have gone well" Vanessa's voice called out, startling Viola as she looked over to see her leaning against the door frame, "I've never seen you smile that big before"

Viola blushed in embarrassment, "What happened on the date is my business"

"Did he steal your first kiss?"

Vanessa dodged the flying ninja stars that were thrown at her and laughed as she ran into her room. Viola placed her coat back in the closet and walked into her room to place the bouquet of roses on her desk. Her smile never faltered as she walked towards her bed and laid down in it to have a good nights sleep.


	42. The Big Brawl, Part 1

Winter, Phoebe and Sara had arrived at the lair to see what the turtles were up to and as they made their way towards the middle of the room, they saw that Splinter was training vigorously and the turtles were sitting watching. After Splinter had split a high stack of bricks in half, he bow, grabbed his walking stick and walked back into his room.

"What was that all about?" Phoebe asked as the girls approached the turtles.

"I don't get it either" Donnie spoke, "He usually never works out this hard"

"He's been acting kind of wacko for a month now" Raph added.

"Can't you just, you know, ask him what's wrong?" Sara asked.

Before anyone could answer, the door to Splinter's room opened up and Splinter had a small handkerchief sack tied at the end of his walking stick.

"My sons, I will be leaving you for a few days" Splinter informed, "While I am gone, I want you to be extra cautious, so do not leave the lair until I return; Leonardo, you are in charge, you keep an eye on the others"

"When is he not?" Sara questioned.

"But where are you going sensei?" Leo asked as Splinter began to make his way towards the exit.

"Do not worry, I will return soon" Once Splinter was on the other side, the entrance door closed automatically, leaving everyone confused.

"What's up with master Splinter?" Mikey questioned.

"I don't know, but don't you guys remember, he went away like this three years ago" Leo said.

"So this isn't the first time he's acted out of sorts" Winter said.

"Yeah, but where?" Donnie asked.

"Maybe he's got a girlfriend" Mikey joked, but then Raph smacked him on the side of his head.

"There's one way to find out what master Splinter's up to" Raph said, "We follow him"

"He said we're not supposed to leave the lair" Leo informed.

"He also said you need to keep an eye on us, so you keep an eye on us while we keep an eye on him"

"Now that is some logic thinking Raph" Sara said.

"Tag along!" Phoebe and Winter said excitedly.

"I don't think that's a good idea" Donnie said, "Whatever master Splinter might be up to, it might be dangerous"

"And since when are we strangers to danger?" Phoebe said, "We've gone into an underground city full of monsters"

"And I've also been on many thrilling adventures with you guys as well" Sara added, "I think we can handle following Splinter"

Everyone had soon headed out, with a reluctant Leo, and followed Splinter to wherever he was going. They soon followed him into a dead end alley way and hid while they watched as Splinter began to draw strange looking symbols on the wall.

When he finished, he placed his walking stick on the ground, placed his hands together and began to chant something; the others became shock when a puddle began to move and it started to hover towards the wall and traced around it, opening a portal. After Splinter walked through the portal and the water fell back to the ground, the turtles and girls came out from their hiding spot.

"Ok" Mikey spoke, "That was freaky"

"I've seen a lot of strange things, but this takes the cake" Winter said as they walked down at the end of the alley.

Mikey began to touch the wall where the portal was, "It's rock solid"

"Yeah, like your head" Raph said as he began to touch the wall as well.

"May there's a door here or something" Donnie suggested as he began to touch the wall as well.

"It's not a hidden passage way" a familiar voice spoke out.

Everyone looked around before they looked up to see two figures bounce off the walls downwards to the ground and when they landed, they saw that it was Viola and Vanessa.

"You guys catch the show?" Phoebe asked.

"Just when he began the chant" Viola answered.

"The chanting was familiar" Leo said, "But the symbols, I've never seen those before"

"Then, it looks like sensei's given us the slip" Mikey said.

"Maybe, maybe not" Donnie said and set the satchel he brought with him to look through, "Sensei also taught us where there's a will, and some UV lighting, there's always a way" Donnie took out the UV light and shined it where Splinter drew the symbols at to reveal them.

"Nice going Donnie" Leo praised, "You got any chalk in your magic bag of tricks?"

Winter had her eyes narrowed at the symbols, finding something strange about them.

"What's with the intense stare off?" Sara asked.

"I don't know, something's strange about them, familiarly strange" Winter answered.

Raph had then began to trace the symbols, "That ought to do it; alright Leo, give it a shot"

"Here goes nothing" Leo said, then placed his hands together and began the same chant that Splinter did and the portal opened up, "Did it work?" Leo opened his eyes to see that it did, "No way!"

"You know, maybe this isn't such a great idea after all" Mikey said nervously.

"Come on Mikey, where's your sense of adventure?" Sara questioned.

"Back at home"

"Where you girls should be heading" Leo told, "We don't know where this portal may lead to and it might be too dangerous for you girls"

"Yes, it's best left to the professionals" Vanessa said, then jumped through the portal.

"Vanessa!" Viola called out worriedly and reluctant jumped through as well.

"I ain't being left out of this!" Sara said quickly and jumped through the portal before Leo could stop her.

"Ladies first!" Phoebe said excitedly as she grabbed Winter's wrist and pulled her through the portal.

"Come on" Raph said as he grabbed Mikey and pushed him through the portal forcefully, "Let's not let the girls show us up"

Raph had then entered through the portal and Donnie and Leo soon followed after. They were suddenly sliding down a water fall until they came out the other end of the portal and landed in a small grey mud puddle.

"That was so COOL!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"Heck yeah it was!" Sara cheered as well, "It was better than a waterpark slide!"

"Now where are we?" Leo questioned as they all stood up and wiped the mud off of them.

"Defiantly not earth" Donnie told as he looked around the strange new environment that looked like ancient times, "But, if I had to guess, I'd say it's some sort of world between worlds, between dimensions even"

"A nexus" Winter gasped out as she stared around in amazement.

"Yeah, you mean like some point of overlapping subspace communality" Mikey said, earning a few questioning looks from his brothers and surprised looked from the girls, "What? Donnie's not the only turtle that watches Star Trek you know"

"I love Star Trek" Phoebe said, "I especially love the part where-!"

Everyone suddenly heard a loud noise and they looked to see that another portal had opened up close to them.

"Heads up guys" Raph said as he drew his sais, "Another one of those doors is opening"

"Take cover girls" Leo told.

"What?" Sara questioned, but then was pulled by Viola to hide behind some rocks.

Something had then shot out of the portal and flew to land right in front of the turtles.

"They're just sticks!" Sara called out to the turtles, "What exactly am I supposed to be afraid-" The 'sticks' had then began to move and had revealed them to be some kind of stick creatures. "I still don't know what I'm supposed to be afraid of!" Sara called out, but was then pulled down by Phoebe to hide.

"Hold on" Leo called out to his brothers as they had their weapons drawn, "Maybe they mean us no harm"

The stick creatures then drew out sharp looking sickles.

"You were saying Fearless Leader?" Raph questioned as Leo drew his swords. The stick creatures then began to charge

at the turtles.

"We don't have time for this" Leo said.

"I don't think we have a choice" Donnie said a little nervously. When one of the stick creatures struck at Raph with his sickle, it sliced all the way through a giant tree and it fell.

"Man, those things are just a little sharp" Raph said, then he dodged an attack before he was kicked down.

Donnie and Mikey were holding their own just fine while Leo was having a little more difficulty, and when he tried to counter attack, the stick creatures sickle had sliced Leo's swords in half.

"My katanas!" Leo exclaimed upsettingly. Leo charged and slid under the stick creatures legs and kicked at it from behind.

"Leo's got the right idea" Raph said, "Get in close on these bozos"

Raph had ran and slid under the stick creatures legs, then he grabbed its leg and flipped it to the ground. Mikey then disarmed the creature he was fighting, used his nunchaku to grab the creatures hand, slid under its legs and flipped it on its back. Donnie had then jumped and struck the creature hard, knocking it down and ending the battle.

"That was incredible!" Sara exclaimed as she came out from her hiding place with the girls soon following.

Leo walked over to his broken blades and fell to his knees in disappointment; Sara saw this and walked over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"It'll be alright Leo, I'm sure you can get them fix; it's not it's the first time they've been broken" Sara reassured.

"Preliminary group match completed in 4.3 kuargons" a voice spoke out and they looked to see a very familiar man in a mask float down to the group and placed a flag into the ground, "The Gom-tai are eliminated from competition"

"Wait a minute" Winter whispered to the girls, "Doesn't the guy seem familiar?" The Gom-tai stood up in a line and bowed to the turtles while the teens were still a bit confused about what was going on.

"Now, it you Slongtags will-"

"Slongtags?" Donnie questioned while Phoebe and Vanessa snickered at the word.

"You… you talking to us?" Raph questioned.

Another portal had suddenly opened up behind the teens and four giant green creatures had jumped out and stood in a line in front of the turtles.

"Wait" the floating man said as he looked at the two groups in confusion, "Wait a moment, this is not correct, there's been some mistake; the Gom-tai were to fight the Slongtags, not you earthers. In fact, the only earthers register is Hamato Splinter and-"

"Hamato Splinter?" Raph interrupted.

"Master Splinter?" Mikey added in confusion.

"Where is he?" Leo questioned angrily, but Mikey held him back.

"This is not as it should be" the floating man said and floated away with the two other groups, "Now I must reschedule the match between the Gom-tai and the Slongtags" A giant water bubble then surround them and they floated up in the air before disappearing.

"What the shell was that all about?" Mikey questioned.

"I don't know and I don't care" Raph said irritably, "The sooner we find master Splinter, the sooner we can blow this popsicle stand!"

"Oh my god!" Phoebe gasped.

"What? What's wrong?" Mikey asked worriedly.

"I-I remember that guy now!" Phoebe said, "He was that same guy that held this match between Leo and the Ultimate Ninja"

"You mean that red-haired man that used Sara as prize?" Winter said.

"So what exactly is he doing here?" Sara questioned, "Is he the official referee for all dimensional and extraterrestrial battle matches?"

"Why don't we take a look around the area?" Viola suggested.

"That way we might either find Splinter or someone to explain what all of this is about" Vanessa finished.

"Well, at least the Gyoji is familiar" Donnie said as they all began to walk down a trail.

"All I remember about the Gyoji is he works for that creep" Raph growled in annoyance.

"I bet master Splinter has the 411 on all of this" Mikey said, "He seemed to know a whole lot more about what was going on with that Ultimate Ninja business than he's telling"

"Man, if I see that Ultimate Ninja, I'm gonna-" Raph was interrupted when they heard giant footsteps and they looked to see what was happening right in front of them, "What the shell?!" The group looked to see Splinter fight against a giant four armed monster.

"Geez, what is tha-AHH!" Sara's foot had accidently slipped over the ledge of the cliff and it caused her to tumble down towards where the fight was going on.

"Come on!" Leo exclaimed and the turtles had then jumped down the cliff and towards Sara, "Are you ok?"

"I'm good" Sara groaned Leo helped her up and brushed off the dust on her clothes, "Had worse falls"

"You stay here while we go help master Splinter" Leo told and the turtles then rushed towards the fight. But half way there, they were suddenly trapped within a dome bubble and the Gyoji reappeared right next to them.

"Battle Nexus rules clearly state that there can be no external interference between contestants" Gyoji told.

"You just got the hammer brought down on you" Sara taunted the turtles as she stood on the other side of the dome.

"I told you to stay back" Leo scolded.

"You're not the boss of me"

The teens had continued to watch as Splinter fought against the giant, who had ripped a tree out from the ground with his bare hands and swung it at Splinter, who had jumped out of the way, but tumbled to the ground and was shaking as he tried to stand up.

"Sensei!" Raph exclaimed.

When the giant began to approach Splinter and raised the tree, ready to strike the final blow, but when he brought it down, Splinter had jumped out of the way and onto the tree. He then ran up it and kicked the giant in the chest, causing him to drop the tree and then Splinter grabbed onto the giants beard, swinging on it before jumping off and stood in front of the giant.

The giant then began to charge at Splinter and when he tried to slammed his fists down on him, he jumped out of the way, bounced off a tree and kicked the giant repeatedly before he finally fell to the ground. The giant had tried to get up, but he fell right back to the ground; the dome around the turtles soon disappeared and the other girls had soon arrived on the scene. The turtles all at once began to praise and question Splinter as they rushed towards him.

"You were supposed to stay at home, not follow me here, and with the girls no less" Splinter lightly scolded once the turtles stopped talking, "Leonardo, I am very disappointed"

"I'm sorry sensei, but I just-"

"Don't blame Leo master Splinter" Raph interrupted, "I, kind of, talked him into it"

"And we went along just for the heck of it" Sara said. A bright light began to glow across the group and they looked to see that the Gyoji reappeared with a flag and placed it in the ground.

"Victory for Hamato Splinter of dimension third earth" Gyoji said and then disappeared again.

"Third earth?" Winter questioned in confusion. They heard a groaning noise and they looked to see that the giant was standing up and the turtles drew their weapons.

"Protect master Splinter!" Leo said as they placed themselves between Splinter and the girls and the giant.

"No, no, no!" Splinter called out as he pushed through the turtles, "D'Jinn is not an enemy"

D'Jinn then laughed and kneeled down to Splinter, "Well fought comrade, I had such hopes of beating you"

"And you almost did old friend" Splinter chatted to with ease, "It was a most valiant contest, domo arigato"

"You four should be honored to have one such as Splinter as your sensei" D'Jinn said to the turtles, "He is something of a legend here"

"He is?" Donnie asked in surprise-confusion.

"Do you mean he hasn't told you?" the turtles still looked confused while D'Jinn laughed, "This is rich, too rich; please, allow me to tell you a story about your sensei"

"I'm up for stories!" Vanessa said excitedly.

"I really rather you would not bother old friend" Splinter said.

"It's no bother comrade" D'Jinn reassured, "Listen up young ones, down through the centuries and across the multiverse, the greatest warriors have always searched for great challenges, and so it came to pass, that this place was born, a nexus where being from a multitude of different world could pit themselves against worthy challengers. The Battle Nexus tournament, where a warrior can prove themselves to be one of the mightiest and most skilled martial artist of all creation. Your sensei's sensei was once a Battle Nexus champion, and, not long after that, your master entered the competition as well. He surprised and impressed many with his courage, skill and honor, but his success has lead him to a final battle with one of the fiercest of all the fighters: Drako"

Phoebe shuddered, "Chilling"

"Poor Splinter, his leg was broken in the battle and it looked hopeless; the match was halted and Splinter was given the chance to forfeit, but he would not. He was allowed to splint his leg and continue the contest; I swear, not even I believe it when Splinter managed to triumph over Drako, broken leg and all. Truly, he was the best of the best that day; Splinter was the new champion of the big brawl" The teens gasped in amazement at the story.

"Our sensei, the greatest warrior of all the multiverse" Leo gasped.

"It was nothing" Splinter said.

"This is huge!" Mikey exclaimed.

"I won the competition, that it all"

"Yeah, but winning the Battle Nexus earns you bragging rights" Sara joked.

"It's like finding out your dad is… Superman!" Mikey said excitedly.

"Ah, but wait, there's more" D'Jinn spoke, "Dark deeds were afoot that day"

"Alright, after story" Phoebe said excitedly.

"Splinter was ambushed by Drako and his assassins were dishonorable and attacked Splinter after the match, but a young rabbit samurai had crossed their paths and tried to help, but he was over powered. Splinter and the young rabbit samurai would have been destroyed haven't the Daimyo not intervened, using his mystical war staff until Drako fled like the coward he is. He has not been heard of since"

"Wow, it's all so cool!" Donnie said excitedly.

"Splinter, you are truly the mightiest of all warriors" Vanessa praised. A portal had suddenly opened up right behind the group and they looked to see that the Daimyo appeared through it.

"We are honored by your return sensei" Daimyo said as he bowed to Splinter.

"It is I who am honored" Splinter said as he bowed back.

"I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to see my good friend in the ranks of gallant warriors, and now your sons are here to compete, this is truly a great day"

Splinter looked skeptical about the turtles joining in on the tournament, "They were supposed to stay at home"

"Noble Daimyo" the Gyoji spoke, "The four earthers were not register properly, however, they did win a match the qualifying round"

"Excellent" Daimyo said proudly, "Then by my decree, they shall be entered into the contest, if you deem it acceptable my friend"

Splinter closed his eyes to think about it before he looked at the turtles, "I thought perhaps that they were not ready to compete, but perhaps fate is showing an overprotective father that his sons are growing up; they may enter" The turtles cheered excitedly.

"Now that is happily settled, I have an important point of honor that must be addressed" purple smoke began to appear out of nowhere and the Ultimate Ninja appeared, "By my son"

"What is this?" Raph questioned as he drew his sais, ready to get payback on the Ultimate ninja, "Some kind of trick?"

"No trick, I swear it" the Ultimate Ninja reassured, then bowed to Splinter, "Honored sensei, I know that when last we met, I challenged Leonardo to a mortal duel, it was a rash act and I humbly apologize for my unwarranted actions upon your family, I beg for your forgiveness"

"Look whose turn over a new leaf" Raph mocked.

"Your apology is most gracious" Splinter said, then he bowed to the Ultimate Ninja, "We accept"

"I don't" Sara spoke out as she crossed her arms and glared at the Ultimate Ninja, "I'm still ticked off about being used as a prize, I don't like being degraded just because I'm a girl"

"I did not mean to make you feel demeaned" the Ultimate Ninja said as he stood up and walked to stand in front of Sara, "I find you to be a very stimulating, courageous and robust young woman and I might have used an… unorthodox method of gaining your attention"

Sara blushed a light red at his comment, "Y-yeah, it was-ow!" Sara looked to see that Phoebe had elbowed her in the side and was giving her a look about her choice of words, "I-I mean, that was a very considerate apology and I forgive you"

"And with my apology, I would like to bestow a gift to you" The Ultimate Ninja reached into his cloak and pulled out a light blue teardrop shape diamond necklace with a thin silver chain.

"O-oh my!" Sara gasped as she looked completely shocked and surprised at the Ultimate Ninja's gift, "It's very beautiful…" then whispered, "And expensive looking" then spoke out loud, "I-I can't accept something like this, though it's a very thoughtful gift, an apology is all I wanted"

"Nonsense, this will highlight your grace"

The Ultimate Ninja then wrapped the chain around Sara's neck and pulled her hair out from underneath the chain. Leo glared harshly at the Ultimate Ninja, he may have forgiven him for what he has done to his family, but he still didn't like him because of his fondness towards Sara.

"I'm sorry to interrupt" Leo spoke out, but was obviously on purpose to break the conversation up, "But I don't think I can compete; my swords, they were broken"

"Father, we must help him" the Ultimate Ninja said.

"Of course" Daimyo said, "We have an exemplary palace sword smith, fear not" The Daimyo used a staff that he was carrying and Leo's swords began to glow and they lifted out of his hands, "The Gyoji will see to it that your swords are repaired and brought to you"

"As you wish my lord" the Gyoji said as the swords floated in front of him and he used the paddle he was holding and disappeared.

"Come, the next stage of the tournament is about to begin" Daimyo said as he raised his staff and it glowed brightly, transporting them to a podium that overlooked the fighting arena, where there were other contestants down below, cheering.

"Warriors!" Daimyo called out to the crowd, "You have traveled from the multitude of diverse universes and I bid you welcome to the Battle Nexus Tournament! To those who have fallen in battle, I salute your bravery and courage, and to those who have passed the preliminary round, I say congratulations and brace yourselves for the combat to come, for now is the time, let the next round of the Battle Nexus Tournament begin!" Daimyo raised his staff high in the air and confetti fireworks shot up in the air and exploded in the sky.

"Aw man, did we miss the fireworks show?" a women's voice called out.

"Well if you hadn't made us stop to change your shirt, we would have been here earlier" another women's voice lightly scolded.

The group turned around to see two human women, possibly in their mid-forties, walking their way. They both had light brown hair and grey eyes, but one woman had shoulder length hair while the other had chin length hair and the woman with shoulder length hair had a pair of thin glasses.

"Sorry we're late Daimyo" the woman with glasses apologized, "Miss Fashion wanted to change shirts… for the third time today"

"Well todays a special day, it's the Battle Nexus Tournament" the other woman said.

"It's quiet alright Abigail" Daimyo reassured with a small chuckle.

Winter's eyes widened and she slowly turned around and pushed through the turtles to stand in front and both Winter and Abigail and the other woman looked completely shocked.

"Mom?!" Winter gasped, then looked at the other woman, who smiled nervously and waved, "Aunt Shelley?!"

"Mom?" the turtles all said in surprise.

Abigail looked to be in a panic at first, but then placed her hands on her hips and tried to look stern, "Winter Rosemary Davis, what are you doing here?"

Winter looked offended, "W-what am I-what're you doing here?"

"Uhh… I believe I asked you first and I am your mother"

"Are you really gonna-"

"Ok, ok" Shelley interrupted, "I'm pretty sure this could be a round-about thing and both of you a clearly mad at each other, but questioning each other like this isn't gonna get anyone answers. So Winter, you may ask your questions first"

"Ok, exactly how long has this been going on?" Winter asked.

"Umm, since your grandma Thelma" Abigail answered a little nervously.

Winter looked like she started to think until she looked shocked again, "Thelma? As in my ancestor from the 18th century Thelma?"

"And every generation since then" Shelley adde

d. "Wait a minute, is this why you two were arguing about my training?" Winter asked and the two nodded, "And why you told me I was living up to my potential?" Shelley nodded, "And why you wouldn't tell me why you two were arguing?" the two nodded again, "Why didn't you want me to know about this mom?"

"I-it's just that… I wanted you to have a normal life, all of this is so unusual, no offense Daimyo" Daimyo raised a hand to show no offense, "But I guess I should have known better because you've always been a curious, adventurous little child"

"Remember when she was five and she saw you perform the chanting ritual and she nearly ran right into the portal" Shelley laughed.

"My heart nearly stopped then" Abigail said with a nervous laugh, "But, now for my question: how did you get here?"

"Oh, uh" Winter said a little nervously as she rubbed the back of her neck, "I followed Splinter here with my friends"

"Who?"

"This is Splinter" Winter introduced, "I've known him and his sons for the past few months"

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Davis" Splinter greeted with a bow.

"It's nice to meet you too" Abagail said and then looked at Winter again, "And you said 'sons'?"

"The turtles" Winter said and walked to stand next to Leo, "This is Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael"

The turtles said their greetings to the two women; Winter then grabbed Donnie's arm and pulled him forward so that they were both standing in front of the two women.

"And since we're telling each other secrets we've been hiding; mom, I would like to tell you that Donatello is my boyfriend"

Abagail's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Boyfriend?"

"Oooo, Winter's got a boyfriend" Shelley said with a smile, then she started to laugh, "I remembered mom's reaction when she found out you were dating a four armed, blue skinned man"

"Shelley!" Abagail hissed a bit as she elbowed her in the side.

"He was certainly all hands"

Abagail then pushed Shelley back behind her, "Winter, you know the rules about dating"

"I know, I have to bring him over so you can meet him, or in dads words, interrogate, before I can date him" Winter said, "But it all kind of happened so fast, and for obvious reasons, before being told our 'family secret', I couldn't introduce you to him; but he's really sweet mom, and smart"

"The top two requirements for the perfect boy for your perfect girl" Shelley said.

Abagail looked to be thinking about it, "Well, he does seem like a nice boy, and the fact that both of you are here means that he's as adventurous as you; but I got to warn you Donatello, she can be quiet the handful when she's stubborn and adventurous"

"I've been on many adventures with Winter before, so I know how to handle it" Donnie said.

Leo had walked over towards the edge of the podium and looked down at the contestant crowd and was surprised to see someone very familiar.

"Traximus?!" Leo gasped in surprise and everyone looked down to see him.

"Let me see!" Raph called out when he heard the name.

"Oh wow" Donnie said.

"Cool!" Mikey said.

"It's a surprise to see him as a contestant" Viola said.

"I wanna be a contestant!" Sara said excitedly.

"Sara" Leo said in a small tone.

"Us too!" Vanessa said as she wrapped her arm around Viola.

"Maybe you should be a contestant Winter" Shelley suggested.

"Oh, I don't know, I haven't been registered and I haven't won a preliminary round" Winter said.

"Daimyo" Abagail spoke to, "Though I know it's against Battle Nexus rules, might I ask for my daughter to be assigned into the match?" Daimyo looked to be in thought, "She can take my place in the tournament, I think that it's time for tradition to continue to the next generation"

"Alright, she may take your place" Daimyo said with a small chuckle.

"What about the other girls, Daimyo?" Shelley asked, "They seem pretty enthusiastic about joining in on the most epic battle in the dimension" Shelley then looked dramatic and placed her hands on over her heart and pretended to cry, "And you're just going to ruin a young child's dream of kicking extraterrestrial butt?"

Daimyo began to laugh, "Always the melodramatic one; I shall allow it just this once, but if they wish to participate in the next Battle Nexus Tournament, they must be registered"

"Sara, you can't join in on the tournament" Leo argued.

"Why?" Sara questioned, "The other girls are joining in on the match"

"I'm not" Phoebe called out, "I don't feel like fighting against dimensional beings right now, maybe another time"

"You've been pushing me out of almost every fight we've ever encountered; why?"

"I-it's just that… well, Viola and Vanessa are trained kunoichis and Winter's family seem to know more about this, so-"

"Shut your face" Sara interrupted as she held up her hand and had this insulting look on her face, "Do you think I'm incapable of handling myself in a fight?"

"What? N-no, I don't think that, it's just that-"

"That what Leo? The other guys don't have a problem with the other girls joining in on the fight, but apparently you have a problem with me doing anything remotely dangerous. Just because I'm a ballerina, doesn't mean I'm delicate like one" Sara had then walked off, leaving everyone in an awkward situation.

"Well" Shelley spoke out as she clapped her hands together, "I think it's time to get to the arena, the next stage of the tournament is about to begin"

"Please my friends" the Ultimate Ninja said, "Allow me to escort you to your next arena" The Ultimate Ninja then lead everyone through a hall and into a room that was lined with statues. "As you see around you, this is the pavilion of past champions, something of a Hall of Fame" the Ultimate Ninja explained, then he stopped in front of three particular statues, "Here are three statues that may interest you"

Everyone looked to see that it was a statue of Splinter and next to him was Hamato Yoshi and on the other side of Splinter was a statue of Abagail.

"Whoa!" Leo gasped.

"Awesome!" Donnie said.

"Unbelievable!" Winter said.

"Imagine, our sensei and his sensei has statues in the Hall of Fame" Mikey said.

"Come, we must go" the Ultimate Ninja spoke and began to walk off and the others soon followed.

"Guys" Leo called out, "If it would be alright, I'd like to stay here a minute, I'll catch up later"

"Remember Leo, don't touch anything" Mikey teased.

"You break it, you bought it bro" Raph added.

"Go on, I'll be right behind you" Leo said.

"I'm thinking he's staying behind for two reasons" Winter whispered, "To pay his respects to Splinter and his sensei and to figure out how to fix that tense fight between him and Sara"

"That fight was much more intense than my fights with Leo" Raph said.

Vanessa looked back at the entrance to the Hall of Fame and narrowed her eyes slightly, feeling as if something was about to happen. Leo looked up at the statues or Splinter and Yoshi, then he pressed his hands together, closed his eyes and paid his respects to them. But unknown to him, a group of shadow magic ninjas had phased out through the statues behind Leo and very quietly jumped onto the statue that was right behind of Leo and one of them raised a crossbow right at Leo.


	43. The Big Brawl, Part 2

The turtles, girls, Splinter and Shelley were down in the arena, waiting for the tournament to begin.

"Warriors who seek to become Battle Nexus champion, prepare yourselves!" Daimyo called out and the contestants began to cheer.

"Hey guys, it is Traximus" Raph said as he pointed to their old alley, "That gladiator from the Triceraton home worlds"

"Imagine Traximus being here" Mikey spoke, "This place just gets wilder and wilder"

"Where is Leonardo?" Splinter questioned as he looked through the crowd, "The tournament will start soon"

"Do not worry Splinter sensei" the Ultimate Ninja reassured, "I am sure Leonardo will be along any moment now"

Back within the Hall of Fame, Leo was still paying his respects to Splinter and Yoshi's statues, unaware of the assassins behind him, one which was about to kill him with a crossbow arrow. Leo had opened his eyes just as the assassin fired the arrow and Leo turned to block the arrow, but it was sent flying into Yoshi's statue.

"Sorry master Yoshi" Leo apologized to.

The assassin jumped down from the statue and continued to fire at Leo multiple times and he easily evaded them and blocked them before catching the last one. The assassin then jumped and climbed up one of the tapestries to the wooden beam and jumped to stick to the domed ceiling and then threw a few ninja stars at Leo.

He ran to dodge them, but then another assassin came at him from behind and knocked him back towards a wall of weapons, where he flipped to land on his feet. Leo looked around to see that the room was empty, the assassins out of sight, but he remained cautious.

"Ok, where did everybody go?" Leo questioned and reached behind him to grab a spear from the wall, preparing himself for any surprise attacks.

A whip had suddenly wrapped around his wrist and he was pulled towards the two assassins, but twisted himself to knock one of the assassins down and tried to attack the other one, but he had blocked the attack. When Leo had pushed the assassin back, something was shot out at him, but missed and sliced the spear in half.

Another assassin had came in and kicked the bottom half of the spear out of Leo's hands and jumped at him, but Leo had kicked him in the chest, causing the assassin to jump back while Leo defended against the other one, but then he had jumped back in and kicked Leo back into the wall, the remains of his weapon knocked out of his hands, leaving him helpless. When the assassin with the crossbow jumped in and aimed his weapon at Leo, ready to finish him off, a sword had came down and sliced at the crossbow, destroying it.

"You fight without honor assassin!" a humanoid rabbit-samurai that stood on top of the statue above the assassin shouted and jumped into the fight.

But the three assassins had ran, climbed up the wall and disappeared before the fight between them even began. The rabbit-samurai placed his weapon away and walked over to the fallen Leo, helping him up.

"Are you alright warrior?" the rabbit-samurai asked.

"Thanks for saving my shell" Leo said.

"You are welcome kappa"

"I am Leonardo and I am in your debt"

"I am Miyamoto Usagi, a ronin and a competitor in the Battle Nexus Tournament; I was passing by when I saw you set upon by those dishonorable assassins"

"Lucky for me"

"Luck has very little to do with it, it is about skill and control of your energies; your mind and your weapon must be as one or you will certainly parish"

"Yeah, I know, my sensei is always telling me the same thing; any other advise?"

"Yes, duck"

Leo's eyes widen and he did as he was told just as Usagi drew his weapon and jumped over Leo, blocking a ninja star that was aimed at him as the assassins were back and ready for the next round. More ninja stars were thrown and Usagi had charged at the assassins while Leo grabbed a shield on the wall to block them, then threw it at the assassin that was standing on the wooden beams, knocking him down.

"Who are these guys?" Leo questioned.

Usagi fought against two of the assassin expertly and with ease, knocking them down; Leo went and grabbed two wooden batons that were set on a stand and jumped into the battle against the assassins. Usagi and Leo were defending themselves easily against the assassins, but when Leo knocked his attacker down and was about to strike him again, he had caught his wrist and knocked him back and then kicked him back into a display stand.

The assassin grabbed a sword the was also on display and walked over to stand over Leo; when he was about to strike the final blow, someone else had came in and kicked the assassin back, knocking the sword into the air and when it came back down, Vanessa had caught the handle easily.

"Vanessa!" Leo said in surprise, but relief.

"Leo, we told you not to touch the display" Vanessa teased as she held Leo, then twirled the sword around, "But I'm an exception because no one told me not to" Vanessa looked behind Leo and looked surprised and shocked, "That looks like Shredders helmet"

Leo looked at the display that was above him and looked shocked as well, but then the two rushed towards Usagi just as he knocked the two assassin down and they had retreated up the wall and disappeared again.

"They are gone" Usagi said as he placed his weapon away, "Vanished"

"Again, I thank you for your help samurai" Leo said.

"Samurai?" Vanessa said in surprise.

"Do not thank me yet warrior" Usagi said, "Fate may pit us against each other in the tournament"

"I have to tell you Usagi-san, the way you fight, I rather not go up against you if I can help it" Leo said.

Usagi laughed a bit, "The feeling is mutual"

"Not to me!" Vanessa said, "It'd be an honor to fight against an actual samurai, it'd be like the ultimate challenge in my young ninja life"

"I believe we have not been formally introduced to be fighting against one another" Usagi said.

"Yeah, I know, I've been there" Vanessa said and held out her hand, "Name's Vanessa"

Usagi looked a bit surprised at her form of greeting, but took her hand and shook it, "Miyamoto Usagi"

"Oh my goodness" Vanessa said with a laugh, "That's too adorable" Usagi was yet again surprise at her upfront comment.

The Gyoji had then appeared behind Vanessa with Leo's swords in his hands, "Master Leonardo" Vanessa yelped in surprise at the sudden voice and backed up to stand between Leo and Usagi, "Your swords have been prepared; I trust you will find them worthy"

Leo smiled happily as his swords were handed back to him and bowed to the Gyoji gratefully, "Thank you"

"You three must hurry, the next stage of the Battle Nexus Tournament is about to begin"

"Alright, let's get an egg in our shoes and beat it" Vanessa said excitedly and they soon walked out towards the battle arena.

"Good luck Leonardo-san, Vanessa-san" Usagi said and bowed.

"And to you samurai" Leo said and bowed back.

"I'll be seeing you in our fight ronin" Vanessa said and gave a scout salute and a wink and walked off towards the others.

"She is quiet a… unique character" Usagi said.

"There's a lot more to her than she lets on" Leo said and soon followed after Vanessa.

"Yo Leo, Vanessa, I thought you weren't gonna show" Raph said when he spotted the two.

"What took you two?" Donnie asked.

"And why did you run off to him?" Viola asked.

"I ran into trouble in the pavilion of past champions" Leo told, "I got attacked and Vanessa showed up in time to save me from one of them"

"Attack?" the Ultimate Ninja said in surprise, "Are you alright?"

"I'll survive" Leo said in a tone.

"This is terrible; I will look into the matter at once"

The Ultimate Ninja bowed and soon walked away; a horn had then sounded out, meaning that the tournament was about to begin and everyone gathered in a circle.

"The time has come" Splinter spoke, "Be brave and more importantly, be careful"

"I think I'll handle myself just fine" Sara said in a tone as she looked at Leo.

"But don't forget to have a little fun out there" Shelley said, "I know I will"

The Daimyo used his staff to ring the gong next to him, "Let the contest begin!"

The Daimyo raised his staff and it began to glow brightly and spark as he aimed it towards the arena, the spark striking the middle of the arena. The battle arena began to lower a bit before walls began to rise from the ground, separating everyone into two fighters. Nearly the whole group was faced against alien warriors, but only Viola and Vanessa were faced against each other.

"It'll be an honor to fight against you, little sister" Viola said.

"It'll be an honor to kick your butt, big sister" Vanessa teased and they both chuckled.

"Warriors!" Daimyo called out, "First tier, begin!"

Winter was faced against a hunched, green haired alien with a chained claw and when he threw it at her, she managed to bend to the side quick enough to dodge it. Sara was faced against a man with long blue hair and a large metal hammer and he was pretty quick, but Sara used her ballet techniques to move swiftly to dodge his attacks. Shelley was being face off against a giant fish-man, but she was pretty quick and was landing a bunch of hits to the aquatic man and she had taken him out within a few minutes of the battle.

Viola and Vanessa were evenly matched against one another, barely landing a hit on each other; but then Vanessa had then gave a sweep kick at Viola, and while she was still in the air, Vanessa had twisted around on her hands and kicked her older sister into the wall and she had suddenly disappeared. Vanessa was at first worried about where Viola had went, but then she heard a whistle and she looked up towards the Daimyo's podium and saw that Viola was standing in an area just below the podium.

Viola smiled as she waved and Vanessa smiled as well as she waved back. Phoebe was completely tense as she was chewing her nails raw as she watch Mikey battle against a giant alien that was half covered with hair. She gasped when the giant had kicked Mikey, but then smiled happily as she watch Mikey take him down, the crowd cheering loudly.

"Woo-hoo!" Phoebe cheered loudly, "Way to go Mikey!"

Phoebe laughed when Mikey blew her a kiss and continued to watch her other friends in their fight. Winter continued to evade the green haired aliens weapon, but she quickly came up with a strategy and when the alien threw his weapon at her again, she moved to the side as the weapon passed her, then she grabbed the chain, twisted under the chain and maneuvered it so that the chain was lining up against her arm and twirled the claw around before throwing it back at her opponent.

But before it could hit him, he had disappeared and Winter smiled proudly at winning at the first round, thrilled that she was starting to live up to her potential. Sara had continued to evade the blue haired man's attacks, only getting a few hits and kicks in. She glanced back and saw that she was nearing the wall, about to be cornered, but she didn't want to lose, she wanted to prove that she could handle herself just fine in any battle.

She then thought of an idea, "I've always wanted to try this"

Sara began to run towards the wall, with the blue haired man chasing after her, and when she was closing in on the wall, she used as much force as she could to run up the wall, flip over the man and landed on her feet, stumbling only a little before regaining her balance. Sara then thought of a move that she always used against her brothers when they tried to force their chores onto her: she gave a hard kick to the back of the man's knee, knocking him down, then she grabbed his wrist and twisted it so that he was now lying on the ground.

She then twisted his arm behind him and she was standing over him, then she grabbed one of his legs with her free arm and pulled it back, placing him in a wrestling hold that her dad had so proudly taught her. The blue haired man began to tap out and he suddenly disappeared, which caught Sara off guard and caused her to fall back onto her butt. After the nurse attendants finished checking for any injuries on Viola, she looked in surprise to see that Donnie was the first turtle to be defeated.

"What happened?" Donnie questioned in confusion.

"You have been defeated in the great tournament" one of the attendants informed as he checked Donnie for any serious injuries.

"I don't believe it; I'm the first turtle eliminated? The guys won't ever let me live this down"

"It's alright Donnie" Viola spoke as she stood up, getting his attention by surprise to see that she was also eliminated, "I was the first of anyone in the group to be eliminated, but I still hold you in high respects"

"Thanks Viola, that makes me feel a little better" Donnie looked around and sighed in relief, "I'm glad that Winter's still in the tournament, she deserves to continue in the competition" A horn sounded out and the two walked towards the open space to look to see that everyone had defeated their opponent in the first round of the battle and the walls had lowered.

"Champions!" Daimyo called out, "I commend you on your victories thus far; and now, prepare yourselves, the next round, tier two!" A water bubble rose from the ground and began to expand to engulf everyone left in the battle arena, causing them to disappear before the bubble disappeared as well.

"Tier two! Begin!" Daimyo called out.

A spark lit around the arena and the floor began to sink in as the walls were also brought up, randomly placing the two contestants with each other. Winter was faced against Shelley, Vanessa was faced against Usagi and Sara was faced against Leo. Winter was surprised and nervous about being faced against her aunt, who had trained her since she was seven.

"Well Winter" Shelley spoke with a smile, "Let's see how well I've trained you"

"Well Usagi" Vanessa said as the two circled, "How about we place a friendly wager between this fight"

"I am not one for wagers Vanessa-san" Usagi said.

"You can drop the 'san', we're friends, and about the wager, I was thinking that the loser" Vanessa pointed at Usagi, "Can buy the winner" Vanessa then pointed to herself, "The first two rounds of drinks"

Usagi chuckled, "I am not much of a drinker, Vanessa"

Vanessa smirked, "Such a sly little hare"

"Never thought I'd be pitted against you" Sara said as she started to circle Leo, who was reluctant to move from his place, "Then again, I bet you're much more surprise to see that I made it past the first round since you have doubt in me"

"Sara, I don't have doubt in you, it's just that… well…" Leo wanted to admit that he was just scared that he'd lose her to something that he couldn't protect her from, but he was too nervous to tell because he would be confessing his love for her and he felt like he wasn't ready yet to tell her.

"When you're ready to actually work up the nerve to tell me what you actually thinking, tell me after the tournament, when I beat you and show you that I'm not some delicate flower that needs constant watch"

Sara charged at Leo and jumped to give a kick, but Leo dodged it easily. Winter and Shelley were nearly evenly matched, but Shelley was gaining the upper hand in the fight since having much more experience. When Shelley tried to deliver another blow, Winter flipped backwards, looking surprise when she landed back on her feet.

"Where'd you learn that?" Shelley asked in surprise.

"I guess my body reacted the way the turtles would defend against an attack like that" Winter said, still a bit surprised that her body could perform a move like that.

"So you're expanding your training outside of my teachings?" Shelley said with a small smile.

"I guess from watching the turtles and Splinter train, my mind had adapted to their techniques" Shelley smiled happily, "Well, I guess with the way your mind and body have adapted to their trainings, I might not be a match against you and I don't want to deprive you of fulfilling your potential, the next generation deserves to proceed in the tournament" Winter looked surprised before she smiled as well, "But you do have to deliver a final blow for me to be taken out of the tournament"

Winter walked towards her aunt and laughed as she gave a playful punch in the arm to Shelley and she soon disappeared, but instead of appearing in the treatment area below the Daimyo's podium, she appeared right next to Abagail, who was sitting next to Splinter.

"She's getting stronger" Shelley told as she sat down, "I'm really proud of her"

"Me too" Abagail said, "After all, she is my daughter and your niece"

"Yeah, family genes sure don't skip a generation" The two sisters laughed.

"Yes, you should all be proud to have raised such fine warriors, and children" Daimyo spoke.

"Yes, I am proud" Splinter said.

"They can never disappoint" Abagail said.

"Though they can be a little too willful at times"

"That's because they're still kids, you can't expect them to become adults so quickly just because they've been trained to fight so expertly" Shelley said.

Daimyo sighed, "If only fathers could make their sons understand, we're only trying to protect them from their own inexperience"

"I exactly know what you mean old friend" Splinter said with a small sigh, then he looked down at Vanessa and Usagi fighting, both of who were evenly matched as they fought hand-to-hand, "But tell me, there's something familiar about this samurai Vanessa faces"

"He should look very familiar to you, he is the same young samurai in training that came to your aide when Drako ambushed you some years ago; he's already a ronin at such a tender age, but his sword-arm is skilled far beyond his years" An armored man had came out and stood next to the Daimyo, handing him a letter before leaving and the Daimyo read it. "Excuse me, I must attend to a small matter; will you join me later when this bout is over?"

"Is that just to Splinter or to all of us?" Abagail teased.

Daimyo laughed, "Of course it is extended to you two as well"

"It would be my honor Daimyo" Splinter said.

"Same here" Shelley said as she placed her arm around Abagail's neck and gave a playful tug. As Leo and Sara continued their fight, Sara was getting frustrated that Leo was only defending and not attacking.

"Why won't you fight?" Sara questioned, "This isn't making your assumptions any better!"

"Sara" Leo ducked to avoid a kick, "It's not that" Leo dodged a punch, "That you're incapable" he dodged another punch, "Of handling yourself, it's just that" Leo blocked the punch with his arm this time, "I-I just get worried"

Sara calmed down a bit and gave Leo a questioning look, "Worried? If you were worried, then why couldn't you jus-!"

Something had suddenly happened to Sara, she felt like something had switched inside her mind and everything seemed much more enhanced to her. All she could hear was a heart beating, not knowing if it was hers or someone else's, as everything around her was slowing down.

She had this sudden sense of danger that sent chills down her spine and caused her heart to race, and she just had a feeling of where the danger was coming from. Sara looked at the exact place of where she sensed the danger coming from and saw a dark flying right towards Leo.

"Leo!" Sara shouted as she ran and pushed Leo out of the way just as the dart was nearing them. The dart had then hit Sara in the shoulder and she cringed as she felt herself becoming weaker.

"Sara?" Leo said in confusion, wondering what Sara was doing.

Sara pulled the dart out of her shoulder and looked at it curiously, but then she felt her legs start to give out and she started to fall backwards, but Leo acted quickly and caught her in time, kneeling down to the floor with Sara in his arms.

"Sara? Sara!" Leo called out worriedly.

"I suddenly felt danger" Sara groaned as she took shallow breaths, trying to stay awake, "The dart was… coming at you… but I couldn't let it hurt you"

"I-it's all my fault, I should have just told you that you are strong, I do have faith in you and that you can handle yourself in a fight and I'm proud that you've made it past the first match. I just didn't want you to be in any kind of danger because… because I love you Sara, I was just scared that something bad would happen to you and I couldn't protect you from it"

"Oh Leo, I'm so sorry that I let my stubbornness get in the way, I should have just heard you out"

"No, I was just afraid that, you know, that you wouldn't like me back"

Sara let out a small weak laugh, "I do like you Leo; I like how you act like such a gentleman and how you care so much for everyone, even when they're an enemy; I'm just surprised that you'd like such a rebel like me"

Leo gave a small laugh, "You may be a rebel, but I'd treat you like a lady"

Sara laughed again, "You're so old-fashioned"

Leo brushed his hand through Sara's hair to the back of her head, lifting her up close enough so that he could lean down and placed a kiss on her lips. The kiss didn't last that long when Leo felt Sara go limp in his arms and he pulled back to see that Sara had her eyes close.

"Sara?" Leo called out worriedly, feeling terrified when she didn't respond, "SARA!"


	44. The Big Brawl, Part 3

Everyone, except for the other contestants, were wondering, and worried, about what was going on with Sara and Leo.

"Sara!" Viola gasped in fright.

With Vanessa and Usagi, Vanessa had sudden ceased all movement and looked up to where Viola was at; Usagi stopped as well when he noticed that Vanessa was looking somewhere else.

"Vanessa-san?" Usagi said as he walked to stand closer to her, wondering what was wrong.

"Something's wrong" Vanessa whispered, but Usagi had heard it clearly.

"What is it?"

"M-my sister" Vanessa said louder, looking at Usagi, "Something must be wrong with my sister"

"How do you know?"

"We're twins and we have this connection, we know when something's wrong with the other, we can feel it, I feel like she's in distress" Vanessa had ran and jumped high to land on the top of the wall and when she looked in the next private area to her, she gasped in shock, now knowing what was wrong.

"Sara!" Vanessa gasped, jumping down to her and Leo, who continued to hold her, "What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know, she was hit by a dart" Leo answered in anguish and worriment.

"Leonardo-san" Usagi called out when he had jumped over the wall and stood next to Vanessa, "What is the matter?"

Leo leaned in to listen to Sara, "Her breathing's shallow"

The Gyoji then appeared in front of the four, "Warrior, what has happened here?"

"Something is terribly wrong" Usagi answered.

"Her breaths shallow" Vanessa added as she kneeled down to Sara, "And she looks pale, grey even"

"This warrior will require a healer at once" Gyoji said, "The match will be nullified, pending a thorough investigation of this incident"

"I wish to be with her with the healer" Leo said as he placed his other arm under her knees and picked her up carefully.

"Me too" Vanessa said.

"I shall come along as well" Usagi offered.

"Are you sure?" Vanessa asked, "You'd be giving up your chance to proceed in the tournament"

"She is your friend, as you are mine" Usagi said.

Vanessa smiled and laughed a bit, "I'll punch you in the arm later" Usagi was confused of why she would punch him in the arm when they were friends, but would ask later as there were more dire matters at hand.

"Come, the healer awaits" Gyoji said as he floated next to the group.

A water dome surrounded the teens and Gyoji and they disappeared before reappearing in a large room with two rows of futons on the ground and there was a man with his whole face covered in paint.

"Wise and beloved master healer" Gyoji greeted, "An honored warrior has needs of your gifts"

"Bring her to me, quickly" the healer said as he bowed.

Leo settled Sara on a futon and stayed kneeled next to her while Vanessa and Usagi stood behind.

"Leo!" Donnie's voice called out.

"Sara!" Viola's voice called out as well.

The two teens had rushed into the room and stood over Sara and Leo. The healer was kneeling on the other side of Sara from Leo and placed his hands on her head and began to chant an unknown language to the earth teens.

"What's with the Vulcan mind meld?" Donnie questioned.

"Vulcan mind meld?" Usagi asked confusingly and Vanessa chuckled behind her hand.

"What is the healer doing to Sara?" Donnie said slowly.

"Oh, he is merging with your friend's spirit in order to determine the exact nature of her illness"

"What has happened here?" Splinter's voice called as he, Abagail, Shelley and Phoebe came into the room as fast as they could. As the healer continued to chant, he was suddenly sent flying back slightly, like he was shocked or something.

"She has been poisoned" the healer said as Vanessa and Viola rushed to see if he needed any help, "But the source of the toxin eludes me"

"Sara poisoned?" the Ultimate ninja said in shock as he entered to room and rushed to stand with the others, "What fiend would do such a thing?" Viola and Vanessa had narrowed their eyes slightly at the Ultimate Ninja, "Rest assured, I will personally get to the bottom of this atrocity"

"Stay with your brother Donatello" Splinter ordered, "I will return shortly, I must speak with the Daimyo"

"I will accompany you master Splinter" Viola offered.

"As well I" Vanessa said, but when she was about to follow, Viola placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I want you to stay here, as a precaution" Vanessa looked to be thinking about it for a moment before nodding.

"Me, Abagail and Phoebe shall go out to inform Winter, Raphael and Michelangelo about the matter" Shelley told.

"And see if they can be of any assistants" Abagail added.

Abagail, Shelley, Phoebe, Viola and Splinter soon headed out while Donnie, Vanessa, Usagi and Leo stayed behind with Sara to watch over her. Meanwhile, tier two has ended and Winter, Raph and Mikey had made it to the next match and the Gyoji was announcing all who had made it.

"The eight finalist are to meet at the base of the pyramid arena in exactly one mega quagone"

"How long is a mega quagone?" Raph questioned in confusion.

"Long enough to see me dominate the finals bro" Mikey said as he slapped Raph on the back and Winter stood next to him, "High three!" Raph and Mikey high threed.

"Leo and Donnie must be kicking themselves for not making the cut" Raph mocked.

"Are you saying the same thing about the kunoichi sisters?" Winter joked, "I wonder what Viola would think about her boyfriend making fun of her like that, probably thinking that you're thinking she's weak"

"W-what?!" Raph said in distress and slight fright, "N-no-no, I'm not saying-"

"Raph, I'm kidding" Winter interrupted, "I'm not gonna tell her that, I'm sure they had a explanation of why they aren't in the finals"

"But of course, I would never be so unsportsmanlike as to rub it in my bros faces" Mikey said in teasing tone.

"I would" Raph said.

Mikey laughed and placed his arm around Raph's shoulders, "Me too, let's go find them"

Winter began to laugh as well, "You boys sure like to hold yourselves high against each other"

Splinter and Viola had arrived at the Daimyo's throne room, but they saw that the guards at the door were knocked unconscious and they became alarmed.

"Daimyo!" Splinter cried in distress and then jumped and kicked open the doors.

They had jumped in the middle of an assassination against the Daimyo, who laid maskless on the ground with a group of assassins surrounding him. One of the assassins threw a blade at Splinter, but he blocked it with his staff and just when the two were about to attack, the assassins had broken through the screen window and escaped.

"Those must have been the same assassins who had attacked Leo and Vanessa in the pavilion of past champions" Viola said.

"Splin…ter" Daimyo groaned in pain as he tried to sit up, "Splin…ter"

"Do not try to speak old friend" Splinter said as he and Viola stood over the Daimyo, "I will seek help"

"And we will find out who has sent those assassins" Viola added.

"Step away from the Daimyo!" a guard had ordered as a group of them arrived, armed with weapons, "Now!"

"Wait!" Viola called out when the guards held her and Splinter captive, "It's not what you-"

"We have the intruders my lord" a guard spoke. The Ultimate Ninja had then stepped in and looked in grief at the sight of his father.

"Wait, you misunderstand" Splinter tried to reason.

"Father!" the Ultimate Ninja cried as he kneeled down to the Daimyo, "No!" The Daimyo groaned and tried to reach out to Splinter and Viola, "Take him to the healers pavilion at once" the Ultimate Ninja then stood in front of Splinter, "My father trusted you vermin, he called you friend and you betray him thus"

"Splin…ter" Daimyo called out to as he continued to reach for him.

"See how he points to the assassin and his colleague" the Ultimate Ninja accused, "Throw these traitors in the dungeon"

Viola's eyes widen in realization, "You dishonorable, spoiled brat!"

Viola had tried to attack the Ultimate Ninja, but one of the guards knocked her unconscious before she could and began to drag the two away. In the healing chamber, Leo was tending to Sara while Donnie and Usagi stood just across from them and Vanessa on the other side of Sara, examining her. Vanessa picked up Sara's arm to examine her wrist and noticed something strange: she kept seeing her veins going in and out from beneath her skin and she sensed that something was different.

"Healer" Vanessa called out to as he was sitting across from them at a desk, looking through scrolls, "I must ask: did you notice anything when you merged with Sara's spirit?"

"What do you mean?" the healer asked.

"I mean, something… different, something you've never seen or felt in a human before"

The healer looked to be thinking over it, "Now that you bring it up, I had noticed something quite unique about her spirit"

"Unique?" Leo asked in slight confusion of why they were having such a conversation.

"Yes, it was like her spirit wasn't all in sync with her mind, it kept phasing in and out, like it was unaware of her body and mind"

Vanessa looked to be thinking about it for a moment before she was brought out of it when she heard a small painful groan and looked at Sara to see her face scrunched up in pain, looking to want to scream, but was incapable of it.

Vanessa reached over and placed her hand on the side of Sara's face, "I don't know what you're fighting Sara, but it is a battle that we are incapable of helping you with, so it's all up to you. You're strong Sara, within as well as out; you have what you need, now fight and win"

"Master healer, you are needed at once!" a guard said as he and other guards carried an unconscious Daimyo in, "The Daimyo has been attacked!"

"Wait, what about Sara?" Leo questioned, but was ignored as the others walked into a private healing chamber and closed the door. Vanessa had suddenly stood up and was rushing towards the exit.

"Where are you going Vanessa-san?" Usagi called out.

"Something's not right" Vanessa called back as she stopped for a moment and looked back, "They Daimyo's been hurt, but neither Viola or Splinter came in with him, I got to find out if they're going after whoever attacked the Daimyo"

Vanessa was soon gone and Donnie walked over to kneel down next to Sara and sighed worriedly, "What can I do? I'm an engineer, not a doctor"

"It's alright Donnie" Leo reassured, "You heard Vanessa, Sara's strong, I know she is too, so she can make it out of this, she, sometimes, always does whenever she's in a risky situation"

"Might I examine your friend?" Usagi asked as he grabbed the oil lamp the was near him and kneeled down beside of Leo.

"What for?" Leo asked.

"I might have a way to figure out what has happened to your friend" Usagi held the lamp out above Sara for Donnie, "If you would be so kind as to hold this for me, like so" Donnie took the lamp into his hand and Usagi pulled out a small crystal from his pocket and held it near the lamp, "Observe"

When the light shined through the crystal, a rainbow had shone through and Usagi moved it around Sara's shoulder until it found an invisible mark on her.

"What is it?" Donnie asked.

"It is the entry point of a dissolving poison dart" Usagi answered as he pulled out a small cloth bag, "A rarely used weapon nearly impossible to detect, even by a trained healer" Usagi pulled the sting holding the bag closed to reveal some strange herbs, "Now that we have located the source of the toxin, I have some medicine that might help" Usagi placed some of the herbs on another cloth and pressed it to the wound, "All we can do now is wait"

Leo and Donnie looked worriedly down at Sara, hoping that she would be able to wake up from this. In the streets, Winter, Mikey and Raph were taking a look around, by Winter's demand and she was very excited about everything and everyone.

"I can't believe it!" Winter squealed quietly, "This so makes up for not being able to see another planet in a different galaxy; I can't believe that my mother and aunt would want to keep this from me, it's so fascinating and beautiful!"

"Make way!" Mikey shouted, startling Winter before she looked at him with slight annoyance, "Battle Nexus finalist coming through! That's right, feast your eyes on Mikey the magnificent, defeater of some of the greatest warriors in all creation!"

Raph then smacked Mikey in the back of the head to shut him up, "Will you give it a rest already?"

"Psst, hey, turtles, girl" a voice called out to the three teens and they looked over to see someone standing in the shadows before they came out, revealed a rhino with a broken horn and wearing a gi, "Care to place a wager on me for the next round? I'm the odds on favor to 3 to 1"

"Well doesn't that make you feel special" Winter said with obvious sarcasm.

"Beat it rhino, find some other sucker" Raph said as he began to walk off, but Mikey and Winter had stayed behind.

"I find gambling to be a waste because your luck can't last forever, you can't always place your faith in chances" Winter spoke.

"You know, considering that your mother was once a past champion, your odds are 20 to 1" the rhino told.

"Well I'm flattered, but I'm only participating in this tournament to live up to my potential, to my own accord, not that follow in my mother's footsteps" Winter soon began to walk off to catch up to Raph.

"Wait, what are the odds on me?" Mikey asked.

"The long shot?" the rhino said with a mocking laugh, "200 to 1"

"Long shot? Moi?" Mikey questioned a bit upsettingly, but then looked to have actually taken it a bit too seriously, "Whoa, I got to get in on that action" Mikey then ran up to catch Raph, "Hey Raph, come on, break me off some bank"

"Forget it bro" Raph denied as he started to pull Mikey, but then turned back to look at the rhino, "And you can stick your horn in someone else's business rhino"

"Your lost reptile"

"Hey, what were you thinking?" Mikey questioned Raph, "200 to 1, we can clean up"

"Lose your shell more likely" Raph mocked.

Mikey was growling in annoyance and anger and ran to stand in front of Raph to stop him, "Hey! What, you don't think I'm a contender? You think I'm a bum? A creampuff? A lightweight? A loser? … You can stop me any time here"

"I will when I disagree with you, now let's go find the others"

"Mikey, can't you just trust in yourself rather than other people's chances on you winning?" Winter questioned.

Mikey kind of ignored her and ran to catch up with Raph and was walking backwards as he talked, "Right, we wouldn't want them to miss my incredible Battle Nexus triumph; float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, who be the turtle, the turtle be me!"

Since Mikey wasn't watching where he was walking, he ran right into a cart and spilled it contents on a small alien holding a spear and he suddenly began to ramble in some unknown language at Mikey.

"Sounds like the universal language of 'I'm gonna kick your butt' to me" Raph said.

"Yeah, well if you weren't such a puny little shrimp, I'd show you how a real Battle Nexus champion fights" Mikey taunted as he poked the alien in the chest.

"Leave him alone Mikey" Winter told him.

The little alien started to twitch a bit before he suddenly started to grow taller and stronger looking until he towered over Mikey, who was now very, very afraid and regretful of his words. In the dungeon, Splinter sitting calming while Viola was pacing back and forth behind him, fuming with rage at the events that had occurred within the hour.

"He cannot expect to get away from this" Viola seethed, "That man is seriously corrupted and vengeful, he is such a petty man"

They heard footsteps and Viola looked up to glare at the Ultimate Ninja as he stood in front of them with another figure in a cloak standing behind him.

"How can one remain so calm in the face of such serious charges?" the Ultimate Ninja questioned Splinter.

"I could never bring harm to the Daimyo as you should know" Splinter said.

"But how could you attack your own father?" Viola questioned as she stood closer to the bars.

"My father forced me to bow before you and your sons, now you will bow before me for I am the Daimyo, now that my father lies in the healers pavilion not long for this world" the Ultimate Ninja said as he pulled out the Daimyo's war staff.

"You will never earn that title" Splinter said as he stood up, "You know nothing of honor"

"Honor?" the cloaked figure spoke and Splinter looked surprised, "This has nothing to do with honor little ratling, this has to do with power" the figure then ripped off his cloak to reveal a red dragon, "Power and vengeance"

"Drako!" Splinter gasped in shock.

"Yes, I'm pleased to you remember me; how's the leg?" Splinter glared at Drako harshly.

"Wait" Viola spoke, "So if you ordered the attack on the Daimyo, did you also order an attack on Sara? What did she ever do to you?"

"The shot was not meant to poison her, but Leonardo instead, I do not know how she sensed the dart coming" the Ultimate Ninja told.

"If Sara doesn't recover, you will pay with your life!" Viola threatened as she gripped the bars, glaring angrily at the two villains.

Back out on the streets, Raph and Winter was standing on the sidelines while the giant alien grabbed Mikey and picked him up.

"Did you know where I come from, puny little shrimp is actually a term of endearment?" Mikey said nervously, "My brothers call me that all the time, isn't that right Raph, you puny little shrimp?"

"If you're looking for help from me, you're looking in the wrong place Mikey" Raph said with a smirk.

"Uh, Winter?" Mikey pleaded.

Winter looked a bit conflicted, "I love you Mikey, but you can be a bit of a spoiled brat"

The alien had then lifted Mikey higher, ready to beat him, but then a bright light shined near them and they saw the Gyoji appear.

"Attend! Attend!" the Gyoji called out, "The final stage of the Battle Nexus Tournament is about to begin!" the Gyoji waved his paddle and there was another bright flashing light and they were soon back in the pit, "Welcome noble warriors to the final stage of the Battle Nexus Tournament"

The contestants turned to see that in the middle of the pit, water had rose in the air before it disappeared and there was a large box floating in the air and then another smaller box formed on top of it.

"Before we begin" the Gyoji spoke and then conjured another water bubble, "All match ups will be determined by random lottery"

The contestants reached in to pull out a kunai with matching color cloths that determined who they would fight. When Mikey pulled out a yellow clothed kunai, he saw that the alien he had taunted had the same color as him, meaning that he had to fight him. Mikey was utterly nervous about it, but the alien seemed to enjoy the thought of beating Mikey into the ground.

Mikey was walking back nervously when he bumped into another contestant and shook his hand, switching their kunai's, "Good luck pal and may the best warrior win" Mikey laughed as the two contestants disappeared, "Suckers, the hand is quicker than the eye"

When Raph held out his kunai, Mikey saw that his had the same cloth as his brothers and that made Mikey more nervous than the thought of fighting the giant alien.

"I'm so gonna enjoy this" Raph said with an evil smirk, "We're talking a lifetime's worth of get backs here"

When Winter pulled out a red clothed kunai, she saw that it matched the gi wearing rhino's and she felt indifferent about the situation.

"Ha! You should have betted on me while you had the chance fools" the rhino-man taunted the three teens, "Looks like you won't be living up to your "potential""

Winter gripped her kunai as her indifference shifted to irritation and resentment, "Oh, we'll see about that, your arrogance will be your downfall, I'll make sure of that"

The Gyoji waved his paddle and Winter was in one of the divided sectors with the rhino, but she somehow ended up with her back turned to him, giving him the advantage of a surprise attack. But Winter had turned just in time to see him try to attack from the air and she easily moved to the side, then Winter had rolled to the other side to place enough space between them so she could prepare herself.

Then when he pulled his weapon out and tried to attack her again, she managed to dodge his attack, flipping backwards for a bit before landing back on her feet crouched. Then she tried to counterattack with a few kicks, but he had dodged them and tried to attack hand to hand while she was close, but she managed to dodge them as well before backing up again. Then when he tried to strike Winter again with his weapon, she ducked down, then she twisted around so that she kicked the sword out of the rhino's hand, causing it to land far across them.

"Well look at that, 20 to 1 just disarmed you" Winter taunted.

"Look, you're obviously a marginally intelligent warrior" the rhino-samurai said a little nervously, "I stand to rake in some serious cash if I can win this thing, I can cut you in for twenty percent"

"No, I'm just gonna beat you out of this tournament because you obviously have no respect it" Winter said bluntly as she cracked her knuckles.

"No need to be a jerk about it"

"Oh, I'll show you what a jerk is, New York style!"

Winter charged fast and hard at the samurai, throwing him off balance at her sudden increase in speed and agility. After a while, Winter swept her leg under the rhino-samurai's legs, knocking him down and had jumped in the air to slam her foot down on him, but he had disappeared just as she came close to him. Winter stood up and breathed out a sigh, rubbing her aching muscles and had looked up to smile at her family, but was surprised to see that they weren't there and saw that Phoebe, Splinter and the Daimyo weren't there as well, confusing her and making her wonder where they all went.

During the tournament, Raph had lost to Mikey and was freaking out about him actually winning and becoming the Battle Nexus Champion, but then Traximus had come in and suggested that they go out for a drink.

"This one's on me Raphael" Traximus offered when the waiter brought them their drinks, "I never got the chance to properly thank you and your brothers and friend"

"For what?" Raph asked.

"My freedom. Back in the arena on the Triceraton home world, the mayhem you and your brothers and friend caused when you kidnapped the Prime Leader allowed my compatriots and I to escape"

"That Triceraton gladiator world was messed up huh?"

"I'm afraid things have grown far worse; the Federation and the Triceraton Republic have escalated their senseless war to insane proportions. Many have perished in this senseless conflict, I have come here mainly hoping to find recruits to help me overthrow the Triceraton Republic and the Prime Leaders corruption. All though it seems not even the Battle Nexus is immune to corruption; I hear word of an attempt on the Daimyo's life by some cowardly assassin rat and young girl"

Raph cough up his drink in shock, "Did you say rat and young girl?"

"Goes by the name of Shard or Sliver for the rat"

"Or Splinter? That's my sensei and he's defiantly no assassin! Did you hear about what the young girl's name might've been? It could be one of the girls that came with me and my bros. What else have you heard?"

"Only that they were caught in the act and imprisoned in the palace dungeon"

"No way! It's got to be a frame up, I'm gonna bust them out right now!" Raph was about to jump into action, but Traximus placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Raphael, that is a rash, fool hearty and extremely dangerous act… count me in"

Below in the dungeons, Splinter continued to sit and meditate while Viola continued to pace, wondering how she was going to get them out of there and stop the Ultimate Ninja and Drako and save the Battle Nexus. Small balls were suddenly thrown into the room and they exploded, filling the room with smoke; the guards were tense, ready for anything.

Viola and Splinter looked at the smoke with confusion, becoming tense when they heard a fight break out between the guards and whoever came into the dungeon. One of the guards were slammed against the barred door, startling Viola at first before the smoke finally cleared and saw that Vanessa was standing over the other guards unconscious body.

"Vanessa!" Viola said in relief.

"Never thought I'd see you behind bars" Vanessa teased as she approached the barred door, "Don't worry, I'll have you out in a minute"

"There's no time, you have to get to the Daimyo, his son's the one who attempted to assassinate him along with Drako, you need to find a way to prevent him from finishing the job and taking over the Battle Nexus"

Vanessa looked to be in thought for a while, "I have another idea; Viola, I'll need your phone" Viola reached in her pocket and gave her sister her phone, "And don't worry, you'll be out in no time, rumors are going around about you two and I'm sure your knight in shining red and green will be here soon to sweep you off your feet like you always wanted"

Viola blushed a dark red, "Will you get out of here!"

Vanessa soon left and Viola sighed once again in relief and saw down, relaxing for the moment, but was still worried about everything and everyone else, not knowing how it will all pan out. As Vanessa began to make her way out, she scrolled through Viola's contacts and picked one out and began to send a text to them before she began to make her way back to the healing chamber.

Within the healing chamber, the healer was still working on the Daimyo while two guards stood at the door; Sara still laid unconscious, but was all alone. Balls were suddenly thrown into the room and the guards became alert, but when they exploded into smoke, they couldn't catch their breath and they were knocked out. The smoke drifted into the private chamber where the Daimyo and the healer were and the smoke also caught the healer by surprise, knocking him out as well.

Soon after the smoke cleared, two of the assassins jumped down into the room and began to make their way to the private room. They stood on both sides of the Daimyo with weapons in their hands and raised them in the air, ready to make the final blow. Just as the assassins were about to strike, two blades blocked their blow and then someone else tripped them. Donnie, Leo and Usagi stood guard over the Daimyo as the assassin stood up again.

"Be alert Donatello-san" Usagi warned, "Leonardo-san and I have encountered these assassins before and they are extremely skilled and dangerous"

When one of the assassins threw a chain with a weight on the end at Donnie, he ducked and rolled toward them, fighting him for a moment before knocking him back.

"You can say that again" Donnie said gravely.

"Very well" Usagi said and began to defend himself against the other assassin while Leo helped out Donnie, "They are extremely skilled and dangerous"

When Usagi threw another attack, his sword had got caught on the assassins weapon and it was ripped out of his grip and he was knocked back through the screen door. Donnie and Leo came running into the next room; while Leo went to help Usagi, Donnie was caught by surprise when a chain wrapped around his staff and it was pulled out of his hands.

The assassin tried to strike from above, but Donnie dodged his every attack; as the assassin closed in on him, Donnie backed up to the shelves behind him and grabbed a jar, tossing the powder inside at the assassin, blinding him and causing the chain to wrap around him, Donnie then kicked him down. Within the private room, Donnie saw that the other assassin was about to kill the Daimyo and acted quick, grabbing Usagi's sword that was still stuck in the handle of the assassin spear.

"I believe this belongs to my friend Usagi" Donnie said as he tried to prevent the assassin from finishing the Daimyo.

Usagi had finally gotten up and grabbed Donnie's discarded bo staff; the assassin tossed Donnie off and was about to continue his work, but Usagi came in and knocked him away from the Daimyo.

"And I believe I have something of yours Donatello" Usagi said.

They both tossed each other their weapons back and began to fight against the assassins; Leo came in and tried to assist his brother with one of the assassins he was fighting against.

"Why did you attack the Daimyo?" Donnie questioned, "Who are you working for?"

"We're going to make them talk, one way or the other" Leo said as he continued to strike at the assassin.

As Usagi continued to fight the other assassin solo, he sliced the assassins chain in half, but he still used them and tried to attack again, but Usagi dodged the attempt and had jumped over him to counterattack. The assassin acted quick and wrapped the chains around Usagi's wrist and then twisted the chains so that it restricted him, but the Usagi yanked the assassin and tossed him into a shelf.

"Easy Usagi, we can't get information from them if their out cold" Donnie told.

"My apologies Donatello-san" Usagi said.

The assassin had then knocked Donnie and Leo down and was about to make another attempt at the Daimyo's life. Usagi rushed quickly and managed to block the assassins blade from striking the Daimyo and then Donnie tackled him and pinned him down.

"Now, tell us who you serve assassin" Usagi demanded, "Or feel the wrath of my blade" The assassin didn't speak, but he gave a suspicious look.

"Usagi, Leo, do you get the feeling that he knows something we don't?" Donnie asked worriedly.

The three looked back and saw that there were many more assassins in the healing chamber.

"Donatello, Leonardo" Usagi spoke as he stood on edge, "I get the feeling we are in for the fight of our lives"


	45. The Big Brawl, Part 4

There were many other assassins closing in on the three and they prepared themselves the best they could to prevent them from attacking the Daimyo.

"We must protect the Daimyo" Usagi said.

"And if we can't?" Donnie asked worriedly.

"Then we shall perish with honor"

"Let's try and leave the whole perish bit out, ok?"

The assassins attacked first and the three did their best to defend themselves, but it was a bit of a hassle as there were too many of them. When Donnie had knocked one of the assassins down, he saw that Leo and Usagi were surrounded and he looked over at the empty futons.

"Usagi! Leo!" Donnie called out as he used his staff to lift one of the futons and threw it at the assassins, knocking them down and out of Leo and Usagi's way.

Leo rushed over to Donnie, "Quick thinking Don"

"Thanks"

The two turtles heard a groan and they looked to see Sara was moving around, looking like she was about to wake up.

"Sara!" Leo and Donnie said in relief to see her finally waking up.

But when they were distracted, the assassin that Donnie had knocked down jumped at them from behind and knocked them both down.

When Usagi had finished off two more of the assassins, he saw four more of the others sneaking into the private chamber, "The Daimyo!"

Back outside in the arena, Mikey and Winter were two of the four contestants left in the semi-final round with a tall alien female with a trident weapon and the massive male alien that Mikey made fun of. The Ultimate Ninja stood at the top of the balcony perch with the Gyoji floating behind him and he raised his hand to silence the roaring crowd.

"Friends, warriors and noble creatures" the Ultimate Ninja announced, "It is a sad office that I must perform: the healer says my father, our revered Daimyo, will not live"

"What?" Winter questioned in suspension.

"But we must continue the Battle Nexus Tournament, it is what my father would have wanted; it is with a heavy heart that I must assume his place and his duties"

"This... this can't be right" Winter turned to Mikey, "What the heck's going on?"

"It might be because he's really old Winter" Mikey said.

"No, no something else is going on, something's not right here"

"We have our final four combatants, hoping to competeto become Battle Nexus Champion" the Ultimate Ninja continued, "And so I say, in honor of my father, let the Battle Nexus Tournament proceed!"

"I hope that the others got wind of the Daimyo's situation and looked into it" Winter said.

The Gyoji had the appeared before the four contestants, waved his paddle and a water portal appeared, "Step through the portal, fate will pair you randomly; fight well and with honor warriors"

After the contestants stepped through, they ended up in an open boxed in area. When Mikey stepped through last, he looked over to see that he was intended to fight Winter, who just smiled and waved casually.

"Looks like we're rivals for the next few moments" Winter said as she prepared herself for the fight.

"I love you Winter and I'm afraid about what Donnie might do if he found out, but I gotta kick your butt" Mikey said as he took out his nunchakus and twirled them around.

"Well that is the whole point of this competition"

Mikey charged firat and Winter evaded his attacks, proving she was quite capable in defending herself against a skilled ninja.

The Ultimate Ninja was walking through the pillared hall alone, unaware that there was someone else in the hall.

"My Lord, a moment" Drako spoke as he stepped out in front of the Ultimate Ninja, "All is going according to plan, I think now would be an appropriate time to fulfill your promise and give me your father's War Staff"

"Patients Drako, patients" the Ultimate Ninja said and began to walk away from him, "The staff is in a safe place and I will give it to you only when all is done and I am officially declared Daimyo"

Drako growled angrily after the Ultimate Ninja left, "My patients, young lord, is at an end"

When Drako left, two figures walked out from behind a pillar from the other end of the hall.

"What do we do?" Shelley questioned, "That spoiled brat must have that War Staff under heavy guard, but I'm sure that big lizard won't have a problem fighting through them"

"We just have to follow them at a distance" Abagail told, "We have to trust that Raphael can get Splinter and Viola out while Vanessa and Phoebe try to do whatever it is they plan to do. For now, we split up and follow the two.

"I really want to get excited about the scandal and betrayal happening during a major competition, but it's hard to get into it when it's involving the faith of the world and our closest friends and family"

"Just get moving and don't get distracted"

The two sisters then split up and followed the two villains.

In an alley of the market, Raph and Traximus were interrogating a palace offical to get more information about Splinter and Viola, though they still didn't know that it was Viola being held in prison as well.

"So what's it gonna be?" Raph questioned the offical as Traximus held him up by the neck.

"I already told you, I-I don't know where this master Splinter or young girl is" the offical told in fright.

"I guess there's no reason for me to keep my hungry friend from eating you" the palace offical looked frightened, "Go ahead Traxy, dig in"

Traximus licked his beak, acting like he really was going to eat him.

"No, no wait, don't eat me!" The palace offical pleaded, "Your master Splinter and the young girl is being held in the palace dungeon" Traximus and Raph smiled in success, "But you won't be able to even get past the stairwell leading to the dungeon"

"Why is that?" Raph questioned.

"Because someone else broke into the dungeon, knocking out all of the guards, but the prisoners were still there; we don't know why they were still there when someone broke in, but now there's more guards than before, it won't be easy"

Raph just smirked, "Easy's boring, it'll be more fun the hard way"

Back in the healing chamber, many of the assassins made their way into the private healing chamber where the Daimyo still lied unconscious and one of them had raised a sword to try once again to finish the job.

"Stop assassins!" Usagi yelled as he stood in the doorway.

Usagi charged at the assassins and engaged in battle once again, dodging and defendig himself against the attacks, even knocking down many of the assassins alo my the way. Leo and Donnie had knocked down more of the assassins in the common area of the healing chamber and quickly checked on Sara, who was now lying quietly and still.

They heard noises coming from the private chamber and jumped into the room the room to help their friend fight against the attackers. Usagi was momentarily distracted when he saw his new friends jump in to help that an assassin used a chain with a heavy weight at the end against him, knocking him back against a pillar and then threw the chain to retrain Usagi to the pillar.

"Time to skewer the rabbit" one of the assassins with a spear said as he walked towards Usagi.

"Usagi!" Donnie gasped in shock, "No!"

Just when the assassin was about to strike Usagi, a sword shot out to stop the final blow.

"You really shouldn't mess with a friend of a kunoichi" Vanessa said with a smirk, "We tend to be over protective" Vanessa pushed back the assassin's weapon, jumped into the air, twisted around and slammed the heel of her foot into the side of the assassin's head, knocking him back into the other assassins, "And we tend to be overly aggressive in the process"

"I owe you my life Vanessa-san" Usagi said as Vanessa cut the chain, setting him free.

"How about that drink on we were talking about earlier?" Vanessa said, kicking up Usagi's fallen sword so he could catch it.

Usagi looked both surprised and slightly in awe, but shook his head to regain his focus and took a stance against the assassins, "Now let us finish these foes"

As Vanessa, Donnie, Usagi and Leo continued to fight in the private healing chamber, Phoebe was in the common area, checking on Sara and staying out of the fight because she was still an amateur and knew she would be no match against skilled fighters like them. But as she was sitting with Sara, waiting anxiously for the fight to be over, she became frightened when some of the assassins jumped into the room, surrounding her.

Phoebe was distracted by the assassins in front of her that she didn't notice the one behind, who raised a sword, about to make a killing blow. Suddenly, Sara's eyes flung open and she arched her back up, scaring Phoebe, making her wonder what was happening to her friend. Then, out of nowhere, Phoebe felt this violent, silent boom course all the way through her body, making her feel like she should have flown all the way across the room, like the assassins were when she felt the vibration pass through her.

Soon after, Sara fell back down to the futon, panting as she moved her head around to stare in confusion about what just happened while Phoebe stared at her with the same expression. The assassins then ran off after that ordeal, along withthe assassins in the private chamber. Vanessa, Donnie, Leo and Usagi then rushed into the common area of the healing chamber to check on Sara and Phoebe.

"Sara!" Leo said in relief as he saw her sit up; he rushed over to her, kneeled down and hugged her tightly.

"Are you alright Phoebe?" Vanessa asked when she noticed that Phoebe looked disturbed.

"U-umm..." Phoebe didn't know how to answer or how to explain what just happened; she reached over to place her hand on Sara's shoulder, getting her attention, "Are you... feeling ok?"

"I'm a little light headed after being poisoned, but I'm starting to feel my strength returning" Sara answered.

"Anything else? Do you feel different than you did before? Do you notice anything different about you?"

"Did something happen?" Leo asked, wondering why Phoebe was pressing so many questions on Sara.

"... I'll let you know when I figure it out myself"

Back in the fighting arena, Mikey was starting to feel like he was about to get seriously injured with the close calls with his fight with Winter, seeing that she was giving it all she got.

"Sorry Winter" Mikey said, then spun on his shell and knocked Winter down.

Then as she was getting up, Mikey jumped at her from behind; but before his nunchakus came into contact with her, she disappeared, making Mikey the winner of the fight and moving on to the final round. Winter appeared in the medical center and rushed over to see Mikey bowing to the audience; she smiled, still happy to see that her friend was moving to the final battle, then ran off as quickly as she could, wanting to figure out what was going on in the Nexus.

In the throne room, Drako had finally finished off all the guards watching over the War Staff and proceeded to make his way over to on his intended target.

"Now to fulfill my destiny" Drako said as he started to reach for the War Staff; but before he could take it, someone else snatched the staff, "What!"

"Ah, Drako" the Ultimate Ninja said as he stepped out from behind the curtain, "I knew you would betray me, I simply wanted to see the look on your face as you failed to achieve your plan; and now, you will pay for you treason with your life!"

The Ultimate Ninja was about to use the War Staff to finish off Drako, but he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned to look to see who it was, but was punched in the face, knocking him down and sending the War Staff flying across the room. Drako rushed to pick it up, but someone's foot stepped on it to prevent him from grabbing it, then kicking it up to catch it.

"Glad I made it in time" Shelley said in relief with a small smirk.

"Did you get distracted, again?" Abagail questioned, cracking her knuckles.

"Hey, those guards had gotten a lot tougher since we snuck into the throne room when we were Winter's age!" Shelley argued, but then became worries and slightly frightened when Drako towered over her, then roared at her, ready to attack, "Abbey, keep away!"

Shelley threw the War Staff over Drako's head and Abagail caught it, but when Drako started to charge at her, she stood in place as he got closer and closer until he tried to grab her, then she jumped just in time to avoid getting caught. She jumped on Drako's back and jumped to get to her sister, but Drako used his tail to capture Abagail, bringing her to him so he could take the War Staff from her hands.

"Put me down you stupid lizard!" Abagail demand, punching Drako in the snout, but it didn't seem to affect him all the much.

"If you insist" Drako said sinisterly, then he flung Abagail at the Ultimate Ninja, who triedto escape, but was knocked down when Abagail's body was thrown into his.

"Abbey!" Shelley called out in shock, then glared at Drako angrily before running to jump on his back, "You're not getting away with what you've been doing and you're not getting away with the War Staff!"

Drako grabbed Shelley and threw her off, "I'm getting away with much more then that; I have spent years of my life studying its ways and its immense power, so let me show youhow much I can get away with"

Down in the dungeon, where four guards were posted, Splinter was sitting on the bench meditating while Viola was sitting in the corner, feeling very worried and anxious waiting for someone to rescue them so she could find out what was happening with everyone else. When the guards looked to see that someone was coming down, they were confused to see that it was some giant dressed in a red robe that looked strangely like the palace curtains.

"I have come to question the captives" the stranger spoke in a familiar voice that confused Viola, making her stand up at the bars to see who it was.

"Bythe order of the new Daimyo, none shall pass" one of the guards told as they held up their swords.

"Hey, watch it with those pick-stickers, I don't want no trouble" the stranger said as he raised his arms in the air.

As the guards walked closer to the stranger, another pair of arms shot out to knock two of the guards into the others.

The stranger laughed and threw the robe-curatin off to reveal that it was Raph who was sitting on top of Traximus, "It's old shtick, but it works"

"Raph!" Viola said in relief as Raph stood at the bars.

"Viola?" Raph said in shock, "You were thrown in jail? I thought it would have been Sara or Winter, heck, I wouldn't have been surprise if it was Phoebe; and here I though you were dating the criminal"

Viola looked slightly annoyed at Raph, "Maybe we should discuss this another time"

"Allow me" Traximus said as he stepped closer to the bars of the cell, then grabbed and bent them open to set Viola and Splinter free.

"Thank you noble Triceraton" Splinter said as he and Viola stepped out of the cell.

"Master Splinter, Viola, what the shell's going on around here?" Raph asked, "This place is crazy"

"I will explain on the way" Splinter told, "But now, we must hurry, we must get to the Daimyo"

As they started to make their way up the stairs, Viola grabbed Raph's shoulder so that they could have some privacy while Splinter and Traximus continued on.

"I just to say that..." Viola started, blushing as she wringed her hands together, "I'm glad that it was you who rescued us, I was kind of hoping that it would be you" Viola continued up the stairs while Raph lagged behind, looking surprised at first before he smiled up at her. Viola then stopped and looked back at Raph, "Oh and just for your information, I was framed and you're not a criminal, so don't think that about yourself"

Soon Viola and Raph ran to catch up with Splinter and Traximus so they could get to the Daimyo.

In the hallway leading to the thrown room, Winter stepped over the unconscious bodies of the guards and into the throne room; she had a feeling that something major should have happened there, so she went there first instead of heading to the healing chamber. When she made it passed more unconscious bodies, she gasped in shocked when she noticed her aunt and mom lying unconscious near the openings of another door that lead to the balcany perch.

"Mom!" Winter called out worriedly as she rushed to them, "Aunt Shelley!" Winter kneeled down to them and tries to shake them awake, but she only managed to wake her mom up, "What happened? Who did this?"

"You need to get to the perch" Abagail told her daughter weakly, reaching over to Shelley, "Don't worry about us, you need to hurry"

"But mom-"

"Go now!"

Winter looked at her mom and aunt, close to tears, but she wipes away her tears and had a determined look on her face. She stood up and rushed to the perch and she stared in shock at what she was beginning to witness. There was a black and red hole in the sky, then she looked down to see that the turtles, Usagi, the Ultimate Ninja and Drako running towards to the fallen War Staff, but they pushed it farther away when they dove for it.

Suddenly, she began to feel like the air was shifting and she felt like she was being pulled upward; Winter noticed that the War Staff was flying in the air, towards the hole in the sky, but she took the risk at diving for it. Winter managed to catch the staff and hook it to one of the statues as she kept being pulled into the hole; she gasped in shock when she saw that the Gyoji was pulled right into the hole, disappearing, possibly forever.

She looked around in panic and fear at her friends also being pulled towards the hole in the sky, holding onto one another desperately. Winter closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them to look at the War Staff in her hands, then back at the hole in the sky, staring in shock when the Ultimate Ninja and Drako were pulled into the the hole and disappeared as well.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked back at the War Staff and concentrated, think about her friends and family, those she cared and loved with all her heart. The War Staff began to glow blue, then she unhooked it and kicked herself up towards the hole, pointing the staff and fired it. Winter was nearly sucked into the hole before it finally closed; she was relieved for only a moment before she started to plumment back towards the ground.

Before she hit the ground, she felt someone catch her and land back safely on the ground. Winter looked up to see that it was the Daimyo that saved her, setting her on her feet; she looked at him for a moment before holding the War Staff out for him.

"I think that this is yours" Winter said; she noticed that he had a despaired look on his face as he took the staff, "I'm sorry about your son"

The Daimyo closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and gave a small smile and placed his hand on Winter's head, "It is alright child; but other than that, you have just saved us and the multiverse"

"I just... couldn't stand the thought of losing my friends or family; I even took the risk of jumping into that blackhole if it meant saving everyone I love"

"And that is why the War Staff closed the rift; because your heart is pure and brave, the staff responded to your love for your friends and family"

Winter looked surprised before she smiled, then she hugged the Daimyo before rushing over to check on her friends. The other became slightly startled when they heard the crowd cheering and they looked to see that Mikey had knocked the massive male alien, winning the Battle Nexus Tournament. Soon after, when they made sure that everyone was ok, the turtles, the girls, Splinter, Abagail, Shelley and Usagi were standing on top of the perch with the Daimyo.

"Michelangelo of dimension third earth, I crown you Battle Nexus Champion!" The Daimyo said as he placed a silver laurel wreath on his head and presented him with a trophy, then he turned his attention to Winter, who stood beside of Mikey. "And Winter Davis, I would like to present to you our family crest as a symbol of my gratitude and our everlasting friendship between our families" The Daimyo placed a medal around Winter's neck and she looked at it with awe.

Shelley then wrapped her arms around Winter's neck to give her a hug, "You may not have won the tournament, but you've seem to won something far greater, and better too"

"Shut up Shelley" Abagail said as she smacked the back of her sister's head, "It doesn't matter if she won or not, I just wanted my baby girl to be the best I know she can be, what she wanted to be"

"Thanks mom" Winter said and gave her aunt and mom a hug.

"Oh, and when we get back home, you know we have to tell your father about your new boyfriend" Abagail told as they pulled out of the hug; Winter looked at her mother with shock at wanting to show her mutant turtle boyfriend to her father, "Don't worry, he already knows about our family tradition and the other inhabitants, so he won't be surprised about seeing someone like Donatello, but he will be upset about you dating without our consistents"

"Uhh..." Winter started with uncertainty.

"I'll let you and Donatello have the time to prepare for it and ask Splinter for an agreement on the meeting"

"Thanks mom" Winter sighed in relief and she hugged her again.

Soon everyone was preparing to head back home to their world; Leo and Usagi bowed to each other.

"It was an honor battling beside you and your brothers Leonardo" Usagi said, "I hope that someday our paths will cross again"

"It is I who am honored Usagi, you saved my life and more importantly, you helped save Sara's"

Leo looked over at Sara as she stood with Phoebe, Viola and Winter, then she looked over at Leo and blushed as she lookes slightly embarrassed as she waved. Leo laughed a little when Phoebe playfully nudged Sara with a smirk when she saw what was going on between the two, but then she was pushed a bit roughly by Sara into Viola, knocking them both down.

"I hope that the two of you are happy together" Usagi said with slight uncertainty since he wasn't so sure about what kind of relationship his friend would have when they seemed like such opposites, but still wished for them to have a happy relationship.

"Hey!" Vanessa called out as she smacked Usagi on the back and wrapped her arm around his neck, "Sorry we didn't have time to get that drink, but maybe I can use it as an excuse to come see you" Usagi felt himself blush deeply when Vanessa placed a kiss on his cheek and began to make her way towards her sister and her friends, looking back for a moment to give a smile and a waved goodbye with a wink, "Until another time, ronin"

Everyone stood across from the Daimyo, Usagi, Abagail and Shelley, as the two sisters decides to stay a bit longer.

"Farwell and good battle to you all" the Daimyo said as he raised his War Staff to Mikey's new trophy and made it glow brightly.

Everyone said their goodbyes as a water bubble formed over them and they disappeared, then reappeared back in the lair.

"We're home" Leo said.

"Whoa, it's almost like it never happened" Donnie added.

"For most of the part, I wished most of it didn't happen" Sara said, rubbing the spoton her neck where she was shot with the poison dart.

"Oh it happened and I have the trophy to prove it" Mikey said, "Check it out, see what it says: Battle Nexus Champion, which is me, the greatest warrior of the trans-dimenaional multiverse, which is me" Mikey then brought Phoebe closer to him so he could wrap his arm around her shoulder, "How great is it that you're dating the greateat warrior in the multiverse?"

"If you keep this up, I'll probably regret it" Phoebe taunted, lightly elbowing Mikey in his side so he could let her go.

"You only won on a technicality" Raph argued.

"Um, technically, I kicked your sorry butt in one of the bouts, remeber? And you're only upset because you're girlfriend is dating second best"

Raph started to get worked up and tackled Mikey, which caused them to knock into Leo and Donnie and they all started to get into their own battle.

"Yes, it is good to be home" Splinter said with a small laugh.

"How're you two able to keep it together with those rowdy boys?" Sara asked.

"Well, since you're starting to date one of the rowdy boys, we can help you out" Phoebe said as she wrapped her arm around Sara's shoulder.

"You probably already know that tuning them out is one way to keep yourself sane" Viola told.

"But knocking them upside the head can be another successful way in shuting them up" Winter joked.

The girls laughed a bit as everyone relaxed for the moment, unaware of the impending battle that was ahead of them.


	46. Space Invaders, Part 1

**Ok, first of, I want to apologize to the readers about taking so long in updating; lately, I haven't been feeling motivated about writing this story and I'm trying to hurry up and finish my other stories so I can get them done. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll do what I can to update the next one quicker.**

It's been a few days since the girls and turtles returned from the Battle Nexus and things were fairly calm - with the turtles fighting Purple Dragons every now and then, but other then that, everything was normal. Though things were becoming strange when Phoebe would visit all day every day with Sara and ask sudden and weird questions about how she was feeling or if anything strange had happened to her, watching her intently, like she was waiting for her to do something.

"What's going on with you Phoebs?" Sara asked as Phoebe visited again, both of them sitting on the couch while they talked.

"I know that I must be annoying you with these constant visits and bombardment of questions, but... haven't you been feeling different ever since we got back from the Battle Nexus?" Phoebe asked.

"Other than being poisoned and nearly being sucked into a blackhole, I feel the same"

"Are you sure? Are you really, really sure?"

Sara then gave Phoebe a suspicious look, "Is there something you know that I don't? What happened? And you can tell me Phoebe, I'm your friend"

"I know, but if I tell you, you'll think I'm crazy"

"Phoebe, with everything that's happened to us since we met the turtles, nothing's going to sound crazy to me"

Phoebe looked to be thinking before she walked into the kitchen, grabbed the salt shaker and walked back into the living room to set the shaker on the table and sit back down on the couch, "Try to move that?"

Sara looked at the shaker, then back at Phoebe, leaning back on the arm of the couch, "Move it how?"

"I-I don't know, with your mind or through your hands"

Sara looked at the shaker, then back at Phoebe again, "Have you been hanging out with Mikey too much?"

"I'm not making this up"

"Then why are you telling me to move the shaker when you won't tell me why I have to move it?"

"I can't fully explain why you have to move it because I don't know entirely myself, you just have to move it"

"How can you expect me to move it when you won't tell me-" Sara groaned frustratingly as she threw her head back, "I'm not so sure it's healthy for you to be dating Mikey"

"Then just humor me then; will you do that for me, will you humor me with this?"

Sara lifted her head to look at Phoebe for a moment before she sat back up, running her hand over her face, "Ok, ok, I'll do it"

"Thank you"

"But I still don't see a point in this"

"Will you take this seriously and focus because I don't think it'll work if you don't try your best"

"Fine, but if this is a joke, I'm gonna get you for this"

Sara looked at the salt shaker and concentrated the best she could, though she still doubted that whatever Phoebe was trying to get her to do wouldn't work. As she continued to concentrate her focus on the shaker, she felt like something was twisting in her, it was uncomfortable, but it made her feel like something was coursing through her veins, all the way to her fingertips. Sara and Phoebe gasped a bit when they saw that the salt shaker was starting to rattle, but then saw that the table, the photos on the wall and even the windows began to shake as well.

"Are you doing this?" Phoebe asked worriedly as she and Sara stood up, looking around the quaking apartment.

Sara rushed to the window and her eyes widen with shock and confusion, "It's definitely not me, I can prove you that"

Phoebe made her way to the window as well and gasped when she saw that there were Triceratons flying around outside in broad daylight. Sara reached up and closed the curtains shut and made her way to the phone and began to dial a number.

"Winter?" Sara spoke.

"Yeah, I'm seeing it too" Winter said as she peeked around the window to look outside, "Why're they here?"

As Sara and Winter continued to talk about what was going on, she became startled when her cellphone buzzed and when she looked at the number, she saw that it was Viola.

"Vi, what's going on?" Phoebe asked worriedly, sitting down on the couch, "Are those the Triceratons that everyone keeps talking about?"

_"Yes. Where are you?" _Viola asked.

"I'm at Sara's apartment and she's talking to Winter right now about what's going on"

_"It's probably best if you and the others get to the lair, it'll be safer there than up here"_

"What about you?"

_"I've dealt with these horn-heads before, so I'm going to see why they're here and Vanessa is going to try and save as many people as she can"_

"Ok, just try not to get captured"

_"I hope so too, I'm getting really sick of being a hostage"_

"Winter!" Sara called out desperately, startling Phoebe as to why she cried out like that.

_"What happened?"_ Viola questioned when she heard the cry.

"I don't know, just do what you need to do" Phoebe said and closed her phone, then turned to look at Sara, "What happened? What's wrong with Winter?"

"Right in the middle of talking about heading to the lair for safety, there was an explosion and Winter screamed and she must have dropped her phone because I couldn't reach her; I think she got captured by the Triceratons!"

"We need to get to the guys, Viola is also going to get to the bottom of this while Vanessa is going to try and save some people; and for once, I think maybe we need to stay out of this because I think we'd be way over our heads about this one"

"Let's hurry"

Phoebe and Sara made their way towards the window leading to the fire escape in the alleyway and tried their best to climb down without being noticed by the Triceratons floating around. They peeked around the corner of the alley and waited for their chance to make another run for the next block over where there was a manhole cover in the alley so they could get into the sewers without being caught. When they got their chance, they started to run beside the frantic crowd so they wouldn't get caught up in the riot or get separated. But as they were halfway to their safe zone, Phoebe saw across from them that a Triceraton was closing in on them, aiming a weapon right at Sara.

"Look out!" Phoebe cried out as she pushed Sara out of the way just as the Triceraton shot, but it had hit Phoebe instead, knocking her to the ground.

"Phoebe!" Sara called out in distress and rushed over to see what had happened.

As Sara turned Phoebe over on her back, she was relieved to see that she was still breathing, but was knocked out. She then grabbed Phoebe's arms and dragged her to the nearest alley, hoping that they weren't caught as she did so. After Sara leaned Phoebe against the wall, she pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Leo's number, waiting anxiously for him to pick up. In the lair, as Donnie was trying to turn the lights back on after another blackout, Leo's shell-cell started to ring and he answered it.

"Leo!" Sara exclaimed.

"Sara?" Leo said in worry when he heard the panic in her voice, "Is something wrong?"

"D-do you not see what's going on?"

"We're in the middle of a blackout; what exactly is happening?"

"I-I-I don't know, it's chaotic out here, it's the-"

A large shadow casted over Sara and Phoebe and Sara slowly looked up to see a Triceraton floating across from them, aiming it's weapon at them.

"Sara?" Leo spoke when she wasn't answering, then she suddenly heard a shot, Sara cry out in pain and the sound of her phone clattering, "Sara!"

"Leonardo, what is the matter?" Splinter asked when he heard his son cry out in distress.

"It's Sara, she called and said something's going on topside and then there was this shot and she screamed, I gotta go see if she's alright!"

Just before Leo left, the power had soon came back on and when the TV turned on as well, it was showing an emergency broadcast about the Triceratons invasion.

"This was the scene moments ago in Times Square; reports are coming in from all over the world, we are being invaded by some extraterrestrial force"

"My sons" Splinter spoke, "It is very important for you all to stay in the lair until-"

Splinter looked to see that the turtles were already gone and he sighed tiredly. As the turtles were making their way through the sewers, they had tried to call the other girls, but they didn't pick up either, worrying them greatly. The turtles were soon on street level before they got up on top of a water tower to get a better look at the city under the invasion.

"Triceratons" Leo said, "That's what Sara must have been talking about, she got captured by them"

"I hate those guys" Raph said in irritation, "We gotta do something"

"What can we do againstan entire invasion?" Donnie questioned.

"It's the end of the world as we know it" Mikey said in distress, "And I don't feel fine"

The turtles soon made thier way down into the alleyway below to hide themselves better.

"I don't get it" Donnie said, "With all the planets in the galaxies, why here? Why earth?"

"Maybe that horn-head Zanramon is still mad at us for stealing his personal space cruiser" Raph said with a laugh, "Is was a pretty sweet ride"

"Maybe he's here to take back Viola as his bride" Mikey teased, but was smacked in the back of his head by Raph.

"I don't think this is about us or Viola" Leo said, "We're not important enough to travel half way across the universe"

"Hey, speak for yourself" Mikey spoke, "I'm considered a pretty bad ombre pretty much anywhere in the galaxy; remeber, I am the Battle Nexus Champion" Raph had then smacked Mikey in the back of the head again.

The turtles became alarmed when they heard a Triceraton speaking close by them and quickly hid behind the dumpster, waiting for them to pass on so they could figure out why they were here.

"I'm picking up a heavy concentration of transonic particles coming from inside that structure" a Triceraton informed as he pointed some kind of locater device at an apartment building, "We'll check it out, you keep searching"

The two Triceratons made their way up to the apartment building on a floating platform and blasted a hole in the side of the building, one of them jumping in to grab an elderly women and brining her back on the vehicle.

"We may not be able to save the world, but we sure as shell can save that old lady!" Leo said determinedly, "Come on!"

The turtles split up into two groups and began to chase after the Triceratons that kidnapped the elderly woman. Donnie caught up first and jumped onto the Triceratons vehicle, getting their attention; the Triceraton holding the elderly woman placed her down and charged at Donnie, but he jumped back and off of the platform, landing on the lamp post below. As the two Triceratons were distracted, Leo jumped in quickly to pick up the elderly woman and escaped, but they were making their way back around towards them.

"Yo!" the Triceratons looked up to see Mikey and Raph charging at them with weapons in hand, "Eat feet horn-head!"

Mikey had then knocked down one of the Tricertons while Raph faced against the other one.

"It's not nice to invade Mr. Raphie's neighborhood" Raph said.

Raph charged and stabbed his sai into the Triceratons laser gun, disarming him, and when he tried to attack, he jumped over and behind him, then kicked him down.

"Yo Raphie boy!" Mikey called out, pointing ahead of them to more Triceratons floating their way.

As the Triceratons started to shoot at them, Mikey pushed the levers forward to make it go fast and the Triceraton driving did the same and the game of chicken began. But just as they were closing in close to each other, Mikey and Raph jumped off onto the rooftop while the platform crashed into the Triceratons. Soon after, all the turtles regrouped to see if the elderly woman was ok and she was beginning to wake up, looking up at the turtles.

"Help! Horrible space creatures!" the elderly woman screamed in fright and passed out again.

"I think what she meant was: thanks for the rescue" Mikey said.

Sara groaned as she began to wake up and when her vision wasn't blurred anymore, she saw that she was lying in the grass; she pushed herself up and looked at her surroundings, surprised to see that she was in Central park.

"Sara!" Sara looked to see that Phoebe was sitting beside of her while Winter was standing on the other side of her.

"It's good to see you're awake" Winter said.

"I think I'd rather be knocked out cold" Sara groaned as she tried her best to stand on her feet, her body aching in every place, "How long have we been here?"

"A couple of hours" Phoebe told, "They're still bringing in civilians, for some unknown reason and we don't know what will happen once they finish gathering who they need"

"Let's just hope that the boys will get here soon before that happens" Sara said, "Because I don't want to know what they'll do to us"

After the turtles got the elderly woman to safety, they hid in another alley, watching as more Triceratons float pass them with captured civilians.

"Why would the Triceratons be rounding up civilians?" Leo questioned.

"Don't look at me" Raph spoke, then pointed back at Donnie, "Ask the shell-answering-man here"

"Well, first off, it looks likethe Triceratons are only rounding up certain civilians" Donnie told as he was trying to figure out the locater device he had picked up from the Triceratons, then gasped in surprise when he got it working right so he could read it right, "Seems that whatever the Triceratons are scanning for, we're full of it"

"No big news there, Mikey's always been full of it" Raph mocked; he then became surprised when his shell-cell began to ring and he picked it up, "Hello?"

_"Raph?"_

"Viola!" Raph exclaimed, but was then shushed by his brothers, "Why didn't you pick up your phone earlier?"

_"It got smashed during the riot and it's a little hard to get to a payphone with Triceraton soldiers roaming the streets"_

"Ask her if Phoebe's ok?" Mikey asked, but was pushed back, so he had to wrestle for the phone, "Is Phoebe ok?"

_"Give Raph the phona"_ Mikey did what he was told, _"Raph, put me on speaker so you guys won't get caught because you keep fighting each other"_ Raph then did what he was told and the turtles gathered around the phone, _"If Mikey's asking about Phoebe, I'm guessing she and Sara didn't make it to the lair"_

"We didn't know Phoebe was with Sara" Leo spoke, "She called me earlier trying to tell me about this and the call ended suddenly; we believe she was captured and if she was caught, then Phoebe must have been too"

"What about Winter?" Donnie asked.

_"The last I heard was that she was talking to Sara before they even left the apartment to get to you guys"_ Viola told, _"I'm sorry I don't know much else Donnie"_

"Ok, we should probably regroup with you and Vanessa so we can figure out why the Triceratons are here?" Leo told.

_"It'll just be me, Vanessa went on her own to try and rescue some people, but I'm worried because she's never fought these horn-heads before, I hhaven't had the time to warn her about the kind of fire power these creatures wield"_

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine, she is your sister after all" Raph reassured.

_"Thank you Raph, but it ddoesn't shake this feeling weighing heavy in my stomach"_

Soon after the call ended, the turtles met up with Viola and they were about to discuss a plan on how to deal with the Triceraton invasion when they saw that all the TV screens in the city had changed to show Zanramon.

"Inhabitants of this planet, you are now under my control and my command. I am Zanramon, prime leader of the great and glorious Triceraton Republic; hear our demands: you will immediately surrender to on us Professor Honeycutt, a fugitoid, or face annihilation. If you give us the fugitoid, we may spare your pathetic lives, deny us and you will be destroyed. You have ten trigons to comply"

"There's a surprise" Leo sooke, "They're looking for the fugitoid"

"The term 'oops, wrong planet' comes to mind" Mikey said.

"Yeah, professor egghead ain't on earth no more" Raph added.

"But the Triceratons don't know that he left with the Utroms to their home planet" Viola pointed out.

The turtles and Viola began to climb up to the rooftop.

"Judging from the tracking device they're using, the Triceratons followed the transonic residue of the transmat beam, thinking it was the fugitiods teleportal" Donnie informed.

"But the fugitiods teleportal doesn't work, remember?" Mikey told, "We built it, it was a dud"

"Again, I don't think the Triceratons know about what happened between then and now" Viola told.

"So let me get this straight" Raph spoke, "The Tricera-creeps are after someone who ain't even here cause they want an invention of his that don't even work?"

"That about sums it up" Leo said; his shell-cell then began to ring and he picked it up quickly, hoping that it might be one of the girls, "Hello?"

"Leo" April spoke in a whisper as she was surrounded by many Triceratons who were moving a crowd of people through Central Park, "Guys, it's April, Casey and I are in kind of a tight spot"

"April, I can't hear you; can you talk a little louder?"

"Um, not really; we're being held by these aliens, they're big and ugly and they stink. They got a bunch of us here in Central Park and-!"

A Triceraton had suddenly grabbed April's phone and crushed it, "Keep moving you scum!"

"Hello? April! No! They got Casey and April, they're taking them to Central Park"

"Well then why are we sitting here twiddling our shells?" Raph questioned as he drew his sais, "Let's move!"

The turtles hurried as fast as they could to get to Central Park. The girls continued to wait for their rescue and they were becoming restless. Winter watched as the Triceratons brought in more people and when she thought she saw someone, she tried to get a closer look and became surprised.

"Guys, it's April and Casey" Winter called out.

The other girls also got a closer look and saw that it was them; they became a bit worried when one of the Tricertons leading the group pushed Casey.

"This isn't going to be pretty" Phoebe said as Casey turned to argue with the Triceraton.

The girls gasped when the Triceraton knocked Casey back and April rushed to him in worry.

"Of all the stupid stunts you've pulled" Sara spoke as she and the others stood close to the two, surprising them.

"Are you girls ok?" April asked.

"More or less" Winter answered.

There was suddenly a bright light above the crowd as the air started to pick up and they looked to see three Triceraton platforms lowering towards them and when they were close to them, they were trapped within some kind of forcefield. Casey tried to ounch it, but it only knocked him back, so the only choice they had was to stay away from it and wait for whatever was to happen to them. The turtles and Viola were soon at Central Park and sneaked they way towards the captured citizens.

"The girls, Casey and April must be in there somewhere" Donnie said.

"Nice, a portable Alcatraz" Mikey spoke, "Now everybody's gonna want one"

"I think now is the least appropriate time to make jokes about people's lives being on the line" Viola scolded.

"What? We can't always be tensed up"

"What if it involves Phoebe's life? Sara? Winter? Casey and April are in there too along with other innocent people"

"Then let's get ready to kick some shell" Raph said, ready to jump into the fight, but Leo stopped him from doing so.

"Hold it Raph, we're way out numbered, we need to use our heads" Leo told.

"Guess that leaves Mikey out"

"You know" Mikey spoke, "If all those people were set free at once, there'd be a lot of confusion" his brothers looked at him with surprise.

"Mikey had a good idea?" Raph said.

"Mikey had a good idea" Leo said, "Donnie, how do we get the cage down?"

"Well, see that?" Donnie said as he pointed at the hovering platforms, "The cage is triangulated by those three hovering platforms; if we knock out one, the whole thing should come down"

"Mikey, Raph, see if you two can set up a diversion so Donnie, Viola and I can get in close enough to take out one of those platforms. Let's move!"

"Wait!" Mikey called out, causing his brothers to look at him in question, "Where'd Viola go?"

The turtles looked around to see that Viola was missing.

"Why did she run off like that?" Raph questioned in slight irritation, "We're in the middle of an alien invasion and she's ran off somewhere on her own; doesn't she know how dangerous that is?"

"Is so nice to see that you care Raph" Donnie teased, "But I'm pretty sure she's capable of handling everything by herself"

"Yeah, because she's not a hothead like you" Mikey added and was about to get attacked by him.

"Another time Raph" Leo told.

"I'm going to hold you to that" Raph said.

As the turtles gone off to complete their mission, Viola was making her way around the Triceratons home base, trying to figure out what the she and the turtles could do after they freed the civilians. The weighing feeling in her stomach didn't lessen and she couldn't stop thinking about her sister, worrying if she could be able to handle herself against the Triceratons.

She didn't doubt her sister's abilities because she herself knew she wasn't all that strong enough to fight against the Triceratons by herself; she hoped that Vanessa used stealth and cunning to fight against them instead of fighting them head on. As Viola was sneaking around, she caught sight of something that interested her and an idea formed in her head, a Mikey idea.

On the Triceraton Homeworld, Zanramon was becoming impatient with the results of the fugitiods whereabouts on earth; Commander Mozar had then came into the room.

"Prime Leader, we have brought an earth creature onto the ship" Commander Mozar informed.

"Why just one?" Zanramon questioned.

"This particular earth creature had caused crucial destruction against our invasion: stealing a freighter ship, crashing and destroying many Triceraton ships and injuring a great number of our soldiers, but we had managed to capture her"

"Her?"

"Yes. Bring her in!"

The doors reopened and two Triceraton soldiers walked in with Vanessa, who's hands and feet were bound together and with an atmosphere converter to help her breath.

"Ahh, so we meet again" Zanramon said with great amusement as he approached Vanessa.

"What?" Vanessa questioned in confusion.

"I almost didn't believe that this hunk of rock was your home planet, but now that you're here, maybe I won't destroy it, but make it our new homeworld with you to rule by my side, like I had planned before"

"What are you talking about?"

"Come now, don't tell me you've forgotten everything that's happened between us and those wretched terrapins"

Vanessa was still confused before she seemed to remembered the story Viola had told her about traveling to another planet and fighting against the Triceratons and the Federation to get back home.

Vanessa laughed quietly to herself, then muttered to herself, "You failed to mention this Viola"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing, I just had a lot on my mind, you know, with you invading my planet, capturing my people, destoring my city and I thought I'd return the favor by taking out your fleet, which, by the way, isn't as impressive. What's the matter? Did you lose your touch of leading or finding the right commander to train your soldiers?"

Commander Mozar growled in anger and stepped closer to Vanessa, "If anyone has the inability to lead a fight, it is your planets weak enforcers!"

Vanessa used the opportunity, with Commander Mozar being close enough and the two soldiers holding her arms to keep her in place, she used them as weight and lift her feet up and kicked Mozar right in the face, knocking him down.

"I must say, you haven't changed a bit since the last time we met"

"Of course you would say that" Vanessa groaned, feeling slightly irritated about being compared to her sister, "So what exactly do you have planned for the captured citizens?"

"Commander Mozar, please explain to the lovely gem what we have in store for the earth creatures" Zanramon said as Mozar stood up.

"Our warriors have been rounding up any and all of the earth creatures bearing a transonic residue, like you, for instance; this means these earthlings were in close proximity to the fugitoid when he teleported to this planet"

"Selling me out so quickly, so loyal to your prime leader" Vanessa said sarcastically, "But I got bad news for you, I don't know a whole lot about the fugitoid or his whereabouts, that night was really hazy to me"

"Then one of the other erathlings is certain to have knowledge of him, they will share with us willingly or we will scan their brains and take what we need" Vanessa gasped in shock at the image of a dummy with a helmet on its head being electrified, "Either way, the fugitoid will be ours soon enough"

"Yes, excellent" Zanramon said with great satisfaction, "Have the captives brought up at once"

Back on earth, the captives watched as a freighter ship float down and phase right through the forcefield, landing across from the civilians; the freighter door had then opened up and a group of Triceratons stepped out. They had then began to gather the civilians to bring them into the ship.

"I still think we gotta be busting ourselves out of here" Casey whispered.

"I agree Casey, but how?" April asked.

"Yeah, because we can't be running around in circles waiting to be taken aboard by force" Sara said.

Phoebe looked to be in thought before she snapped her fingers, "I got an idea"

"A Leo kind of idea or Mikey kind of idea?" Winter questioned a bit worredly.

"A little in between"

Phoebe had then urged the others forward while she went off into a different direction; while the others tried to avoid being taken on board of the freighter, April was suddenly grabbed by one of the Tricertons.

"Get your paws off of her you punk!" Casey shouted as he jumped onto the Triceratons back.

As Casey was wrestling with the Triceraton, another Triceraton had come in from behind and knocked Casey out, taking April and the girls by force onto the freighter ship. Just as the Triceraton was walking up into the freighter, Phoebe, who had snuck around to the back and climbed on top, peeked over to look down at the Triceraton carrying the girls.

She had then jumped off and onto the Triceratons back, grabbing ahold of his horns and pulled back as hard as she could, causing the Triceraton to drop the girls and April. Phoebe had then started to jerk the Triceraton around, making him go crazy and bump into other Triceratons.

"That seems more of a Mikey idea" Winter said as she watched Phoebe continue to cause chaos.

In the middle of the confusion, the forcefield was suddenly brought down and many of the citizens began to make a run for it, but the Triceratons were still pushing April, Sara and Winter onto the freighter.

"Quit shoving!" Sara shouted as she and the others were still being pushed.

As they were being brought aboard, one of the Tricertons was suddenly knocked down and they looked to see Donnie jump in between the Triceratons and the civilians, catching his bo staff after he had threw it and knocked the other two Triceratons down and picked up their laser guns.

"Back off you bunch of crotaceous leftovers" Donnie threatened, "Keep your hands where I can see them"

"Wow Donnie" Winter said in surprise, "I haven't seen this side of you in a while, you look so cool"

"Really? Uh, I mean, we better get these people out of here, fast"

"You heard the turtle, let's move!" April urgedthe crowd and they made their way off of the freighter.

"Step back a bit, nice horn-heads"

Just as Donnie was about to follow after the crowd, he was shot at from behind by the Triceratons that were aboard the freighter, knocking him out.

"Donnie!" April and the girls cried out in distress.

"This is one of the terrapin creatures that was with the fugitoid" one of the Triceratons informed, "Quick, take him and let's go"

The Triceraton picked up Donnie and brought him onto the ship; the girls tried running to get to the freighter before the door closed, but it was too late and the ship began to fly off, taking Donnie to some place that they will know to be difficult to get to.


End file.
